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The  1913 


(Q)(Q)E) 


Jlnd  how  it  was 
meihyaraJlroad 


THE  1913 

FLOOD 


AND 

HOW  IT  WAS  MET 
BY  A  RAILROAD 


BY 
LEWIS   S.    BIGELOW 


ISSUED  BY 

THE    PENNSYLVANIA    LINES 

GENERAL  OFFICES,  PITTSBURGH,  PA. 


v.- 


Bridge  Over  Mohican  River  After  the  Flood 


The  1913  FLOOD 

WITH  a  terrific  and  irresistible  rush  the 
1913  flood  attacked  the  Pennsylvania 
Lines  west  of  Pittsburgh.  The  battle- 
ground chosen  for  the  fiercest  onslaught 
was  in  the  States  of  Ohio  and  Indiana.  In  Ohio  par- 
ticularly the  Muskingum,  the  Scioto  and  the  Miami 
Rivers  burst  their  normally  narrow  banks  and  from  Pig- 
mies became  Titans.  Like  the  Titans  they  were  in  re- 
bellion. They  fought  their  battle  like  Titans.  They  did 
enormous  damage.  But  in  the  end  man  conquered  them. 
You  may  find  here  a  record  of  some  of  the  difficulties 
they  heaped  up  and  how  these  difficulties  were  sur- 
mounted and  overcome. 


There  is  a  watershed  running  northeast  and  south- 
west through  the  northern  part  of  Ohio.  To  the  south 
it  drains  by  the  valleys  of  these  three  rivers  into  the 
Ohio  River.  Dayton,  Zanesville  and  Columbus  are  the 
three  principal  cities  in  these  valleys.  Each  one  had  the 
flood  of  its  existence.  In  Ohio  alone  there  were  de- 
stroyed 22,000  houses,  while  35,000  were  seriously  dam- 
aged by  water.  A  few  miles  above  Zanesville  the 
Muskingum  Titan  produced  a  raging  lake  fifty-one  miles 
long;  and  this  over  the  main  line  of  the  Pennsylvania 
System  between  Pittsburgh  and  Columbus.  On  the  north 
was  found  another  east  and  west  lake  of  a  length  of 
thirty  miles — and  this  covered  the  main  line  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania between  Pittsburgh  and  Chicago. 

3 

291091 


The  term  "lake"  is,  however,  misleading.  It  means 
here  stretches  of  water  over  what  is  ordinarily  dry  land 
— land  which  civilization  has  taken  for  its  own,  on  which 
it  has  built  its  towns  and  villages,  laid  out  and  cultivated 
its  farms,  and  over  which  it  has  constructed  its  railways 
and  electric  lines  and  its  roads  for  ordinary  travel. 

These  "lakes"  were  anything  but  pacific  creatures. 
They  were  filled  with  rushing,  boiling  currents  so  power- 
ful that,  during  the  zenith  of  their  existence,  no  ordinary 
boats  could  live  in  them.  They  tore  out  embankments, 
carried  steel-girder  bridges  long  distances  and  ate  away 
the  soil  of  thousands  of  acres  of  fertile  land,  depositing 
in  its  place  sand  and  gravel  and  stones. 

Governor  Cox,  of  Ohio,  in  the  early  days  of  the 
flood,  gave  out  a  statement,  to  the  effect  that  the  dis- 
aster would  prove  to  be  a  greater  one  than  the  San  Fran- 
cisco earthquake.  This  was  regarded,  in  some  quarters, 
as  one  of  the  wild  reports  emanating  from  the  flooded 
district.  It  has  proved  more  than  literally  true.  It 
should  be  borne  in  mind,  too,  that  there  was  no  insurance 
against  the  losses  occasioned  by  the  flood.  Even  after 
the  abolition  of  temporary  relief  some  16,000  families 
required  financial  relief  in  order  to  return  to  house- 
keeping. 

Generally  speaking,  there  fell  on  this  Ohio  water- 
shed, in  less  than  three  days,  more  than  three  months' 
normal  rainfall.  And  it  came  when  the  ground  was 
thoroughly  soaked  and  every  river  and  stream  filled  to 
its  limit.  The  only  wonder  is  that  the  damage  and  the 
loss  of  life  were  as  small  as  they  were.  Governor  Cox 
says  that  in  Ohio  alone  the  population  affected  numbered 
a  million  and  a  quarter  souls,  and  that  the  direct  money 
loss  was  above  $300,000,000. 

7 


Railroad  Paralysis 

This  was  the  situation  that  confronted  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  in  the  last  week  of  March,  1913.  Its  lines 
all  through  Ohio,  running  from  east  to  west  and  from 
north  to  south,  were  literally  shot  to  pieces.  Bridges 
were  gone;  tracks  and  embankments  swept  away — holes 
in  a  thousand  places;  no  through  line  anywhere.  Its 
telegraph  and  telephone  system,  too,  was  a  temporary 
wreck.  Passenger  and  freight  trains  were  marooned, 
and  above  1,250,000  human  souls  were  dependent  upon 
the  railway  as  a  means  of  bringing  them  the  aid  and 
succor  they  needed  in  the  shape  of  food,  medicines  and 
the  ordinary  necessities  of  life. 

The  Pennsylvania  was  not  the  only  railroad  that 
suffered.  It  would  have  been  much  simpler  had  that 
been  the  case.  Then  one  railroad  could  have  helped  the 
other  with  its  men  and  its  tools. 

The  labor  market  also  was  as  bad  as  possible.  Every 
city  needed  every  available  man  for  its  own  work. 
When  the  water  receded,  streets  and  houses  were  left 
covered  with  a  deposit  of  mud  and  slime  from  six  inches 
to  a  foot  and  a  half  in  depth.  Wreckage  and  filth  re- 
moval were  imperative  for  life  and  health. 


Wfii. 


One-quarter  Mile  East  of  Port  Washington,  Ohio 
8 


Bridge   Over   Black  Fork,   which   had   to   be   Entirely   Replaced 


So  the  Pennsylvania  had  to  depend  on  itself.  There 
was  the  general  staff  in  Pittsburgh  with  its  hands  on  the 
keys,  and  its  sixteen  divisions  sometimes  in  touch  with 
headquarters  in  those  first  days,  but  usually  isolated, 
each  working  out  its  own  salvation. 

Theve  were  no  eight-hour  days,  no  coming  home 
in  the  evening,  no  meals  with  the  family.  The  army  was 
in  the  field,  and  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time,  with 
the  obstacles  confronting  them,  the  havoc  wrought  by 
the  Titans  was  repaired.  No  body  of  men  working  for 
money  merely  could  have  done  what  this  army  did. 

The  Company  did  endeavor  to  show  at  least  some 
of  its  appreciation  of  the  loyalty  of  the  men  when  its 
mason  and  carpenter  gangs  and  shopmen  engaged  on 
damaged  portions  of  the  roads  for  more  than  twenty- 
four  hours  were  paid  one  and  a  quarter  times  for  all 
hours  worked,  including  the  time  consumed  en  route 
between  headquarters  and  their  work.  Extras  were  also 
paid  to  individuals  called  on  or  volunteering  for  unusu- 
ally hazardous  work.  Bonuses  were  paid  to  all  classes 
of  labor  in  varying  amounts,  reaching  down  to  the  track 
laborers  who  had  been  in  continuous  service  of  the  road 
about  a  year  and  who  were  employed  on  washout  work. 
The  bonus  to  each  of  these  latter  was  $10.     The  pay 

9 


checks  bore  the  sentence:  "As  a  token  of  appreciation 
of  the  spirit  of  co-operation  shown  during  the  recent 
flood."  These  bonuses  and  extra  allowances  amounted 
to  more  than  $70,000. 


Samuel  Rea,  president  of  the  Pennsylvania  System, 
made  this  comment  on  the  flood  and  on  the  way  the 
disaster  was  met  by  the  regular  organization  of  the  Com- 
pany: 

"The  officers  and  the  employes  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Lines  west  of  Pittsburgh  have  done  remarkably  efficient 
work  in  restoring  their  lines  to  service.  Immediately  the 
seriousness  of  the  storm  damage  was  known,  the  Com- 
pany placed  all  its  facilities  at  the  command  of  the  State 
authorities  of  Ohio  and  Indiana  for  the  relief  of  the 
affiicted  area. 

"Simultaneously  most  energetic  efforts  were  insti- 
tuted to  repair  the  various  lines  and  re-open  them  without 
delay  to  the  service  of  the  public.  That  this  work  has 
been  done  so  promptly,  so  carefully,  and  with  such  free- 
dom from  casualty  reflects  every  credit  upon  the  officers 
and  employes  faced  with  responsibility  for  meeting  this 
extraordinary  emergency. 

"No  event  in  the  history  of  railroading  in  this  coun- 
try has  shown  more  convincingly  the  necessity  for  the 
railroads  to  be  permitted  to  earn  sufficient  revenue  not 
only  to  make  reasonable  return  on  invested  capital,  but 
also  to  have  a  surplus  sufficient  to  meet  emergency  ex- 
penditures like  these  and  to  improve  the  properties  in 
those  respects  which,  even  if  not  adding  to  gross  reve- 
nue, make  the  lines  better  adapted  to  withstand  the  rav- 
ages of  storm  and  flood  and  the  better  able  to  perform 
their  duties  to  the  public  with  efficiency  and  satisfaction." 


10 


Br-.-- 


Ri\fr  at  Muncie,   IikI. 
I 


The  Coming  of  the  Waters 

Rain  began  to  fall  in  extreme  northwestern  Ohio 
Sunday  morning,  ]\Iarch  23d.  In  the  succeeding  four 
days  there  was  a  total  precipitation  extending  over  the 
State  ranging  from  more  than  eleven  inches  at  Belle- 
fontaine  down  to  two  and  seven-tenths  inches  at  Mari- 
etta, the  average  for  the  State  being  from  seven  to  eight 
inches. 

What  rainfall  of  ten  and  eleven  inches  means  can 
be  best  appreciated  when  it  is  known  that  the  average 
yearly  rainfall  in  Central  Ohio  is  only  39  inches.  Thus 
there  fell  four  months'  rain  in  four  days.  At  Zanesville 
there  was  a  depth  of  water  fifteen  feet  in  excess  of  any- 
thing ever  previously  experienced  there. 

Before  the  arrival  of  the  main  storm,  a  windstorm, 
March  21st,  struck  the  western  terminals  early  in  the 
morning,  and  traveled  eastwardly  over  the  entire  lines. 
The  gale  blew  all  day,  but  as  night  approached  mod- 
erated considerably.  Poles  w^ere  blown  down,  trees 
were  uprooted  and  hurled  against  the  telegraph  lines, 
breaking  them  down,  or  limbs  of  trees  were  carried 
into  the  line,  breaking  and  crossing  the  wires ;  and  at 
a  number  of  places  roofs  of  cars  were  whisked  into 
the  wires.     In  fifty-five  places  all  the  wires  in  the  line 

11 


were  broken  and  communication  totally  disrupted  for 
several  hours.  Where  the  pole  lines  were  weakened 
the  wind,  swaying  the  poles,  caused  the  wires  to  swing 
and  cross  intermittently,  rendering  them  of  practically 
no  value  as  communication  mediums.  Sleet,  loading 
and  weighing  down  the  wires,  added  to  the  trouble.  On 
top  of  all  this  came  the  flood. 

In  the  days  that  followed  there  were  many  in- 
stances of  individual  heroism  and  ingenuity.  With  about 
160  telephone  and  telegraph  line  repairmen  in  the  field, 
never  a  complaint  was  received  from  one  of  them  as  to 
what  was  expected  of  each  during  the  crisis.  In  some 
cases  it  was  necessary  for  the  men  to  travel  all  night  and 
then  work  for  twelve  or  fifteen  hours  in  drenching  rain, 
facing  hardships  of  other  and  more  dangerous  kinds. 
But  every  lineman  grasped  the  situation  and  worked 
with  vim  and  willingness  and  disregard  for  self. 

*        ^        -x-        * 

The  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  on  its  lines  west  of 
Pittsburgh,  has  some  3103  miles  of  line.  This  is  divided 
for  operating  purposes  into  three  systems — the  North- 
west, the  Southwest  and  the  Central — with,  respectively, 
1004  miles,  1423  miles  and  676  miles.  The  Southwest 
System  is  known  as  the  Panhandle.  These  systems  are 
subdivided  into  sixteen  divisions.  For  all  practical  pur- 
poses each  one  of  these  divisions  is  a  separate  railroad, 
fully  organized  and  equipped.  Each  one  is  well  able  to 
take  care  of  itself  in  any  ordinary  condition  of  affairs. 

Every  one  of  the  divisions  suffered  from  the  flood 
except  the  Chicago  terminals.  In  bridges  alone  there 
were  seventy-four  steel  structures  either  entirely  de- 
stroyed or  rendered  unsafe  for  the  passage  of  trains; 
there  were  thousands  of  washouts,  ranging  from  com- 
paratively small  breaks  to  sections  of  roadbed  two  miles 
in  length. 

On  Monday,  March  24th,  while  the  rains  that  were 
to  cause  the  floods  were  increasing  in  vehemence,  there 
was  no  real  trouble  on  the  P^ennsylvania  Lines. 

12 


On  Wednesday  morning,  March  26th,  the  three 
great  systems  of  the  Pennsylvania  Lines  west  of  Pitts- 
burgh were  paralyzed — the  flood  was  at  its  height.  Wire 
and  telephone  communications  were  cut  to  pieces  as 
well.  No  such  condition  of  affairs  had  ever  before 
existed  in  the  railway  history  of  this  country.  A  rail- 
road army  of  61, COO  men  was  set  back  on  its  haunches, 
its  companies,  regiments  and  divisions  isolated. 

Because  of  the  preliminary  storm  most  of  the  tele- 
graph repair  gangs  were  concentrated  at  Chicago,  and 
by  this  Monday,  the  24th,  the  wires  were  again  in  fair 
working  order. 

There  was  not  a  great  amount  of  reserve  material 
on  hand,  since  so  much  had  been  rec[uired  by  the  lines 
affected  to  repair  the  breaks.  The  superintendent  of 
telegraph,  who  had  been  in  Chicago  in  personal  charge 
of  operations,  had  gone  to  bed  this  Alonday  night  thor- 
oughly tired  out,  but  happy  in  the  thought  that  his  poles 
were  again  in  place  and  his  wires  in  order  and  working 


Bridge  No.  83,  Over  Kokosing  River.    Steel  Work  of  Both  Spans 
Gone  Out.     One  Pier  and  One  Abutment  Destroyed 

13 


properly.  His  rest  was  a  very  short  one.  He  was  almost 
immediately  ordered  back  to  Pittsburgh,  and  had  great 
difficulty  getting  there. 

The  General  Superintendent  of  the  Southwest  Sys- 
tem, too,  was  in  Chicago.  He  wrote  a  letter  on  the  24th 
to  the  general  offices  in  Pittsburgh,  saying  that  he  was 
glad  that  matters  were  now  running  so  smoothly  after 
the  recent  western  troubles.  That  letter  was  not  re- 
ceived in  Pittsburgh  until  Saturday,  March  29th,  five 
days  after  it  was  mailed.  Such  was  the  paralysis  of 
mail  service. 

On  this  same  Monday  a  dispatch  to  Pittsburgh 
announced  a  heavy  storm  over  the  Richmond  division — 
which  runs  from  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  to  Logansport,  Ind. — 
but  contained  the  news  that  the  "rain  had  cleared  in 
the  north"  and  that  though  still  raining  on  the  south 
"don't  anticipate  any  further  trouble !" 

With  the  advent  of  Tuesday,  March  25th,  hQwever, 
there  was  a  sudden  change  for  the  worse  and  the  day's 
dispatches  read  like  the  wrecking  of  a  road.  Through 
the  messages  received  in  Pittsburgh — the  headquarters 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Lines  west  of  Pittsburgh — from 
twelve  divisions  the  serious  character  of  the  disaster 
became  apparent  early. 

It  was  a  curious  fact  that  the  one  division  report- 
ing itself  in  running  order  was  the  Zanesville  division 
which  was  to  turn  out  later  as  the  one  hardest  hit.  The 
Zanesville  division  runs  from  Trinway  to  Morrow. 
Zanesville  is  not  many  miles  directly  south  of  Trinway 
in  the  Valley  of  the  Muskingum  River.  The  floods  were 
to  cause  frightful  havoc  from  Trinway,  both  north  and 
south.  The  waters  rushed  over  Trinway  at  such  a  depth 
and  with  such  force  that  many  cattle — both  cows  and 
sheep — were  caught  in  the  telegraph  wires,  driven  along 
the  wires  to  the  cross  pieces  and  there  securely  wedged. 

14 


Franklin  Bridoc,  Xew  Castle,  Pa.,  Alarch  27th,  2  p.  m.     Old 
Black  Bridge  Lodged  Against  It 


Franklin  Frids^e  at  the  ]\Ir)nu'nt  h  l-\'ll 


Franklin  Bridge,  6.30  p.  m..  Showing  Total  Collapse 
IS 


Bulletins  of  Devastation 

A  brief  summary  of  just  a  few  of  the  dispatches 
received  during  the  early  hours  of  Tuesday,  March  25th, 
may  give  some  idea  of  what  was  happening  to  the 
country  covered  by  this  railway  system  on  which  there 
are  rather  more  than  twelve  hundred  stations,  both  great 
and  small. 

On  the  Pittsburgh  division,  running  from  Pittsburgh 
to  Columbus,  Ohio,  there  were  landslides  at  three  dif- 
ferent points.  This  is  the  main  line  for  the  fast  24-hour 
Limited  between  New  York  and  St.  Louis.  It  is  an  old 
seasoned  roadbed  in  fine  condition,  and  over  it  could  be 
safely  made  as  fast  time  as  on  any  track  in  the  country. 
There  was  to  be  a  lake  fifty-one  miles  long  stretching 
over  a  portion  of  this  division. 

The  Indianapolis  division,  which  runs  from  Colum- 
bus, Ohio,  through  Piqua  to  Indianapolis,  reported 
trouble  at  seven  points :  A  bridge  under  water ;  a  bridge 
washed  out ;  an  unsafe  bridge ;  water  over  tracks ;  tracks 
washed  out;  landslide  and  bank  slipping.  A  train  from 
this  division  detouring  over  the  Big  Four  was  wrecked 
at  West  Liberty,  Ohio,  and  three  trainmen  reported 
killed.  A  Big  Four  pilot,  who  had  gone  ahead  to  note 
the  conditions  of  a  bridge,  was  walking  on  it  when  a 
span  went  out  and  the  last  seen  of  him  he  was  on  this 
span  as  it  was  swept  down  the  river.  There  was  no 
way  in  which  aid  could  reach  him. 

The  Richmond  division  had  three  landslides  and 
high  water.  The  Cincinnati  division  had  a  culvert 
washed  out,  water  over  the  tracks  and  water  up  to  a 
bridge.  Incidentally,  it  was  reported  that  it  was  rain- 
ing hard.     Dayton  is  on  this  division. 

On  the  Louisville  division,  which  runs  through 
Indianapolis,  the  reports  from  two  points  read:    "Heavy 

16 


wind;  water  over  tracks;  trains  cannot  move,"  and  ''Still 
raining." 

From  Logansport,  dispatches  announced  that  there 
were  six  inches  of  water  over  the  station  platform;  a 
concrete  bridge  was  out,  and  nothing  could  be  moved 
between  Logansport  and  Chicago.  It  concluded :  "River 
rising  fast;  still  raining." 

On  the  Eastern  division,  which  runs  from  Pitts- 
burgh to  Crestline  and  is  substantially  the  eastern  half 
of  the  main  line  from  Pittsburgh  to  Chicago,  in  one  short 
stretch  between  Perrysville  and  Lucas  one  bridge  was 
washed  out;  one  other  was  covered  by  water,  with  this 
additional  information:  "Don't  know  whether  it  is  still 
there;"  while  a  third  had  sagged  three  feet  in  the  center, 
and  a  fourth  was  "in  bad  shape."  Tracks  to  either  ap- 
proach of  these  four  bridges  were  badly  washed. 


% 


William  Street  Bridge,  Delaware,  Ohio 
17 


Delaware,  Ohio,  After  Water  Began  to  Subside 

Between  Mansfield  and  Toledo  all  the  culverts  were 
weakened  and  unsafe.  There  was  water  over  the  tracks 
in  the  Mansfield  yard  and  in  the  passenger  station.  On 
the  Cleveland  and  Pittsburgh  division  there  were  land- 
slides, washed  tracks,  washed  track  sidings  and  stations 
blocked  with  rubbish.  .On  the  Erie  and  Ashtabula  divi- 
sion, between  Pittsburgh,  Erie  and  Ashtabula  there  was 
trouble  at  fourteen  different  points. 

The  Toledo  division,  which  connects  Columbus  with 
Toledo  and  Sandusky,  had  reports  of  damage  from  five 
centers ;  three  of  which  were  washouts  and  the  other 
two  water  over  the  tracks.  Bay  Junction  sent  the  news : 
"Water  over  tracks.  Cannot  get  into  or  out  of  San- 
dusky." And  Delaware  wound  up  with :  *'No  wires  south 
of  Toledo." 


Before  the  flood  subsided  Delaware  was  to  gain  the 
high-water  record.  Here  the  1913  flood  exceeded  in 
depth  of  water  anything  previously  recorded  in  that  city 
by  fifteen  and  seven-tenths  feet,  thus  surpassing  Zanes- 
ville's  fifteen  feet  by  seven-tenths  of  a  foot.  It  was  at 
Delaware  that  a  Big  Four  bridge  was  washed  out;  and 
so  terrific  was  the  force  of  the  current  that  a  great  sixty- 
foot  steel  girder  was  carried  down  stream  more  than 
two  hundred  yards,  and  when  the  waters  subsided  it 
was  found  on  a  hillside  on  high  ground,  well  removed 

18 


from  the  bed  of  the  stream.  A  man  was  on  this  bridge 
when  it  went  out.  He  was  swept  into  the  branches  of 
a  tree  and  managed  not  only  to  hang  onto  them,  but  to 
climb  a  little  higher  out  of  the  water.  There  he  remained 
for  forty  hours,  and  was  eventually  rescued  after  many 
unsuccessful  attempts  had  been  made  to  get  to  him. 

Strange  to  say,  as  has  been  already  remarked,  the 
Zanesville  division  reported  that  it  was  all  right.  Its 
turn  was  quickly  coming.  The  waters  that  tore  out  the 
bridge  between  Perrysville  and  Lucas — the  Mohican 
River — was  on  its  way  to  join  the  Muskingum  and  es- 
tablish a  new  flood  record  in  the  city  of  Zanesville, 
fifteen  feet  in  excess  of  anything  Zanesville  had  hitherto 
experienced.  The  fact  that  the  flood  reached  Dayton 
before  Zanesville  was  attacked  accounts  for  the  greater 
prominence   of   the   former   city   in   the   first   dispatches. 

It  is  like  piling  Pelion  on  Ossa  to  give  in  detail  the 
separate  messages  of  destruction  which  followed  one 
another  in  quick  succession  this  Tuesday.     A  small  frac- 


'1 


Winter  Street,  Delaware,  Ohio.    X  Marks  P.  R.  R.  Depot 

19 


tion  of  them  may  help  to  an  appreciation  of  what  was 
happening  to  the  country  generally — the  cities  and  their 
inhabitants,  the  country  side  and  its  inhabitants. 

The  message  announcing  ten  feet  of  water  in  the 
passenger  station  at  Dayton  was  sent  the  25th,  but  re- 
ceived in  Pittsburgh  at  ten  minutes  after  twelve  o'clock 
Wednesday  morning  the  26th.  This  was  followed 
eighteen  minutes  later  by  a  telegram  from  Columbus, 
Ohio :  'Tt  is  reported  that  Lewistown  reservoir,  Logan 
County,  Ohio,  has  broken,  which,  if  true,  will  put  a 
tremendous  body  of  water  in  Great  Miami  River,  affect- 
ing Sidney,  Piqua,  Troy,  Dayton  and  Hamilton."  Lewis- 
town  reservoir  covers  a  tract  of  country  five  miles  long 
by  three  miles  across.  There  was  yet  to  be  received  the 
telephonic  message  from  Columbus  in  which  the  speaker 
at  the  Columbus  end  of  the  wire  said  that  while  he  was 

telephoning  he  had 
seen  and  counted  ten 
houses  slip  into  the 
river.  He  was  look- 
ing from  the  windows 
of  a  tall  building  on 
the  side  opposite  and 
in  full  view  of  the 
section  flooded. 

One  may  conjure 
up  a  picture  from  this 
telegram :  "At  Bridge 
141,  near  Perrysville, 
Eastern  division, 
there  is  a  house 
lodged  against  the 
bridge.  Eastern  divi- 
sion reports,  a  few 
minutes  ago,  there 
was  another  house 
floating  down  the 
stream  and  right  back 


lirid.ue  Xo.  3.   I'^our  and  One-quarter 

Miles  West  of  Co1uiti1)us.     Note 

Cleavage  in   Pier 

20 


Bridge  No.  141,  East  Division.     East  Abutment  Partly  \\  ashed 
Out.     100  Feet  of  Embankment  Washed  Out 

of  it  was  a  covered  bridge  floating,  too,  and  that  Bridge 
141  is  very  liable  to  go  out.  It  is  a  94-foot  deck  plate 
girder  bridge,  8  feet  deep."     It  went. 

At  9  A.  M.  a  telephone  message  from  Zanesville 
reported  a  5-inch  rainfall,  and  that  the  IMuskingum  River 
was  due  at  flood  stage  in  twelve  hours.  The  rise  came 
so  quickly  that  the  superintendent  of  the  Zanesville 
division  was  marooned  in  his  own  house  for  two  days. 

At  9.36  A.  M.,  from  Akron,  Ohio,  after  a  list  of 
damage  done,  including  the  grounding  of  wires,  the  dis- 
patch concluded :  "Unable  to  detour  on  account  of  other 
lines  out  of  business.  Water  higher  than  flood  of  1898. 
Still  rising  and  raining."  After  the  flood  of  1898,  which 
before  this  year  was  a  record,  the  Pennsylvania  raised 
the  level  of  all  its  tracks  and  bridges  at  least  one  foot 
above  the  flood  line.  It  was  then  never  expected  that  a 
flood  equal  to  that  one  would  be  seen  again  in  this 
coimtry. 

21 


Dayton  in  Distress 


At  Dayton  the  railroad  bridge  over  the  Miami  was 
already  unsafe.  There  were  2  feet  of  water  in  the  pas- 
senger station  there,  and  a  passenger  train  standing  in 
the  station  was  surrounded  by  water.  The  passengers 
on  this  train  had  a  very  exciting  experience.  Before 
the  train  was  stalled  there  was  a  great  ringing  of  bells 
and  blowing  of  whistles  all  over  the  city.  This  was  the 
warning  to  the  people  of  the  coming  of  the  flood — and 
rumors  had  it  that  the  city  would  be  engulfed.  The 
streets  were  filled  with  excited  men  and  women  running 
hither  and  thither.  The  water  rose  so  rapidly  about  the 
train  that  it  was  necessary  to  lift  the  passengers  to  the 
roof  of  the  depot  porch  and  thence  into  the  second  story 
of   the   depot   through   the   windows.       More   than    190 

persons  there  were, 
all  told,  and  their 
only  food  for  two 
days  such  as  the 
depot  chef  and  his 
assistants  could 
save.  From  the 
high  tower  of  the 
depot,  when  the 
flood  was  at  its 
height,  one  of  the 
marooned  passen- 
gers said  that  the 
only  dry  spots  in 
sight    were    the 


Nat 


o  n  a 


Cash 


Second  and  Main  Streets 
Dayton,  Ohio 

22 


Register  buildings 
and  grounds  and  a 
few  other  buildings 
and  grounds  in 
that  section  of  the 
town.     All  the  rest 


was  a  waste  of  water.  It  boiled  past  and  around  the 
depot,  littered  with  debris.  There  were  many  horses  in 
the  flood.  The  only  light  that  night  was  supplied  by 
burning  buildings  in  the  different  sections  of  the  city. 

At  12.47  p.  M.  came  information  that  "Our  train 
No.  3  is  surrounded  by  water,  with  2000  feet  of  track 
out  behind  the  train.  The  Big  Four  pilot  is  on  the  bridge 
across  the  stream,  but  cannot  be  reached  on  account  of 
the  swift  current.  One  of  our  brakemen,  who  was  also 
on  the  bridge,  has  disappeared.  Big  Four  trainmaster 
on  the  ground,  and  says  he  will  arrange  to  feed  pas- 
sengers, but  I  do  not  understand  how,  neither  does  super- 
intendent of  Big  Four.  In  the  meantime,  we  are  trying 
to  secure  a  motor  boat  to  reach  passengers." 

This  was  a  passenger  train  from  Columbus  for 
Chicago.  It  left  Columbus  Monday  night,  but  on  ac- 
count of  a  damaged  bridge  it  was  detoured  over  the 
Big  Four  Railway  from  Urbana.  While  running  over 
the  Big  Four  its  engine  went  through  a  bridge  at  West 
Liberty  and  the  sleeping  car  "Eaton"  into  the  Mad  River. 
There  were  about  fifty-five  passengers  on  the  train, 
mostly  for  Chicago  and  points  farther  west.  Seven 
received  slight  injuries.  A  physician  on  the  train  ren- 
dered aid  to  the  injured  by  means  of  the  First  Aid  boxes. 
The  electric  lights  held  out  well  and  saved  a  panicky 
condition.  Passengers  breakfasted  on  confiscated  express 
consignments. 

The  relief  train  could  not  get  within  two  miles  of 
the  place  where  the  accident  took  place  on  account  of 
a  bad  washout,  but  sent  two  doctors,  who  reached  the 
passengers  at  4  a.  m.  By  noontime  the  women  and  chil- 
dren had  been  carried  around  the  break  in  wagons,  while 
the  men  had  climbed  over  the  undermined  tracks.  All 
this  was  accomplished  in  a  driving  rainstorm.  The  relief 
train  was  backed  into  Urbana,  where  the  passengers  were 
made  comfortable. 

23 


Zanesville  Terminal  Railroad,  Licking  Bridge 
in  Background 

At  6.15  p.  M.  there  was  this  telegram  from  Chicago: 
"In  the  absence  of  anything  like  definite  information 
from  points  on  the  Southwest  System,  we  have  arranged 
for  two  cars  of  piling,  which  is  now  being  loaded,  and 
also  for  several  cars  of  bridge  material,  which  are  also 
being  loaded.  We  have  borrowed  a  pile-driver  from  the 
Western  Indiana  Railroad,  together  with  a  full  crew  for 
same.  We  are  fitting  up  two  commissary  trains,  which 
will  be  able  to  leave  Chicago  late  this  evening — one  of 
these  trains  to  go  with  the  Western  Indiana  pile-driver. 
We  are  getting  all  the  heavy  slag  we  can,  and  in  addition 
to  this  we  have  already  started  a  train  of  cinders  east. 
We  assume,  from  the  meagre  information  we  have  been 
able  to  get,  that  the  most  serious  damage  between  here 
and  Columbus  is  at  Piqua,  and  that  Piqua  is  where  the 
pile-driver,  filling  and  other  material  will  likely  be  needed 
first." 

At  6.30  p.  M.  from  the  same  source  came  notice  of 
an    arrangement    with    the    Pullman    Company    for   ten 

24 


tourist  sleepers  for  use,  if  needed,  at  washouts.  The 
telegram  concluded,  "This  is  all  we  can  get."  The  trans- 
portation of  the  United  States  Army  to  the  Mexican  line 
had  stripped  the  territory  about  Chicago  of  tourist 
sleepers. 

At  6.48  p.  M.  news  was  received  that  a  work  train 
had  gone  into  a  creek:  "Four  Italians  and  the  extra 
gang  foreman  were  drowned."  These,  with  the  death 
of  a  foreman  killed  by  the  overturning  of  a  pile  driver, 
were  the  only  serious  casualties  to  workmen  in  the  entire 
flood  period. 

At  7.45  p.  M.  the  operator  at  Morrow  telegraphed 
that  he  had  lost  all  wires  to  Cincinnati,  and  that  the 
water  would  be  in  the  Morrow  office  in  an  hour. 

At  9.35  p.  M.  the  town  of  Morrow,  southern  terminal 
of  the  Zanesville  division,   was  under  water. 


In  the  late  afternoon  the  main  office  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad  at  Philadelphia  sent  this  telegram  to 
Pittsburgh  headquarters :  "Can  we  be  of  any  assistance 
sending  either  men  or  material  ?  Call  on  us  for  anything 
you  may  require." 

"May  call  upon  you  to-morrow,"  was  the  answer. 
"On  account  of  wire  trouble  we  have  not  been  able  to 
get  full  details  of  our  damage,  but  so  far  as  we  can  now 
see  will  probably  be  able  to  provide  men  and  material 
enough  to  take  care  of  ourselves.  It  looks  now  as 
though  bridge  material  and  pile-drivers  will  be  what  we 
will  need  the  worst.  Have  you  any  you  could  let  us 
have  ?" 

"Can  you  advise  us,"  was  the  reply,  "where  you 
want  the  pile-drivers,  and  what  bridge  material  shall 
we  send?" 

The  last  record  of  Tuesday,  March  25th,  was 
laconic  and  typical  of  what  was  to  follow  in  the  succeed- 
ings  days:  "Muskingum  River  bridge  at  Tyndall,  main 
line,  Pittsburgh  division,  went  out  at  10.15  p.  m.     Entire 

25 


bridge,  600  feet  long,  is  gone."  This  bridge  was  to  be 
the  objective  point  of  the  construction  forces,  working 
from  either  end  of  the  Pittsburgh  division.  Fourteen 
hundred  men  were  to  join  hands  here  when  the  trestle 
was  completed  that  would  again  give  direct  connection 
between  Pittsburgh  and  Columbus.  But  the  line  was  not 
to  be  opened  until  the  night  of  April  the  13th,  and  the 
task  required  1400  men,  working  day  and  night  for 
almost  three  weeks. 

The  bridge  at  Tyndall  was  a  point  in  the  51-mile 
lake,  with  water  33  miles  to  the  east  and  18  miles  to  the 
west.  A  little  4  horse-power  motor  boat,  the  Ora  May, 
made  the  33-mile  trip  overland — in  water.  For  many 
days  after  the  flood  had  partially  subsided,  the  Ora  May 
supplied  the  means  of  crossing  the  Muskingum  River  at 
Tyndall.  Her  original  objective  was  the  rescue  of  a  tele- 
graph operator,  marooned  in  his  tower  near  the  bridge, 
where  he  spent  some  forty  hours  without  food  to  eat 
or  drinking  water. 

From  this  day's  beginnings  matters  went  rapidly 
from  bad  to  worse.  No  such  flood  had  been  dreamed 
of  as  possible  in  this  section  of  the  United  States.  In 
Montgomery  County  alone — Dayton  is  in  Montgomery 
County — there  were  swept  away  and  destroyed  more 
than  500  bridges,  great  and  small.  This'  record  of  a 
single  county  may  help  to  an  adequate  conception  of 
this  flood  and  the  magnitude  of  the  disasters  attending  it. 

And  still  the  rain  kept  falling  and  the  waters  rising! 


II 

The  Fight  for  Existence 

By  Wednesday  morning,  March  26th,  the  battle  was 
on  in  deadly  earnest.  And  it  was  a  battle.  It  mattered 
little  that  the  enemy  was  a  natural  force  instead  of  a 
body  of  armed  men.  Armed  men  would  not  have  waged 
war  so  relentlessly — they  might  have  had  some  regard 

26 


27 


for  the  weak  and  defenseless,  for  the  women  and  chil- 
dren. The  flood's  object  was  plain  destruction,  animate 
or  inanimate  objects  —  toward  both  its  enmity  was 
equally  implacable. 

The  plan  of  campaign  was  simple.  The  first  duty  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Lines  was  to  extend  relief,  relief  to 
its  marooned  passengers — men  and  women  who  had 
intrusted  themselves  to  its  care;  relief,  too,  to  the 
stricken  cities.  Then,  it  must  open  up  to  traffic  its  main 
lines,  and  afterward  the  branch  lines. 

Every  minute  lost  added  to  the  sum  total  of  human 
misery.  Those  in  the  cities  who  had  escaped  drowning 
were  suffering  and  in  danger  of  starvation. 

On  this  Wednesday,  not  only  was  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  west  of  Pittsburgh  a  wreck  in  the  sense  that 
every  division  was  affected,  but  all  other  roads  in  Ohio 
were  in  equally  bad  shape.  There  was  the  Erie  Rail- 
road, with  its  double  track  of  main  line;  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio,  likewise;  the  Wabash,  with  its  single  track, 
and  the  Pittsburgh  and  Lake  Erie,  and  all  their  branches. 
Telephone  and  telegraph  wires  were  down  almost  uni- 
versally. Conditions  could  not  have  been  much  worse. 
The  flood  seemed  to  be  in  complete  control. 

No  railroad  knew  or  could  find  out  what  sections 
were  available  for  use;  but  by  roundabout  methods,  by 
"feeling,"  for  want  of  a  better  term,  or  "smelling,"  some 
sort  of  connection  was  always  possible.  A  wire  would 
work  so  far,  if  only  intermittently.  This  point  reached, 
feelers  would  be  put  out,  and  in  the  end  there  would  be 
made  some  sort  of  a  means  of  communication.  Of 
course,  the  different  sections  of  the  railroads,  with  all 
their  possibilities  in  the  way  of  freedom  from  flood 
damage  and  quick  rehabiliment,  were  known,  and  with 
these  as  a  foundation  the  work  of  relief  began. 

"Whatever  railroads  we  have  left,  crippled  though 
they  are,  are  at  your  disposal ;  use  them,"  was  the  mes- 
sage carried   in  person  by  the   division  superintendents 

28 


to  Governor  Cox,  of  Ohio,  and  Governor  Ralston,  of 
Indiana.  They  did  use  them.  The  railroad's  officers 
were  in  daily  and  more  than  hourly  communication  with 
Government  officials.  Whatever  requests  were  made 
were  acceded  to  without  a  word.  Cars  and  trains  were 
hauled,  troops  and  supplies  were  moved.  It  was  just  a 
matter  of  hitching  on  engines  and  doing  it.  They  loaded 
the  wires  with  messages  locating  relief  and  supply  trains 
and  keeping  the  officers  of  the  Government  posted  as 
to  the  movement  and  location  of  these  trains.  There 
was  no  suggestion  of  commandeering  railroads.  Every- 
thing was  offered  immediately,  and  absolutely  without 
price.  For  any  relief  or  Government  w^ork  there  was 
no  suggestion  of  a  pecuniary  return.  The  predominant 
idea  was  to  relieve  human  suffering  and  to  save  human 
life. 

And,  when  the  waters  had  subsided,  the  Pennsyl- 
vania went  to  Governor  Cox  and  said  that  many  people 
with  a  curious  turn  of  mind,  or  with  worse  intentions, 
might  wish  to  buy  railroad  tickets  to  Dayton,  Zanesville 
and  other  cities.  The  company  would  have  no  option 
but  to  sell  this  transportation.  It  was  suggested,  there- 
fore, that  the  Governor  take  into  his  hands  the  decision 
as  to  whom  tickets  could  be  sold,  and  thus  protect  the 
demoralized  communities  from  any  additional  and  un- 
necessary burdens.  This  suggestion  was  immediately 
acted  upon.  Nobody  could  go  to  Dayton  or  Zanesville 
unless  the  Governor  said  so. 

Logansport  and  Fort  Wayne  had  asked  the  Govern- 
ment for  life-saving  crews.  The  Pennsylvania,  having 
these  stations  on  its  road,  and  knowing  the  necessity  for 
prompt  action,  had  two  of  these  crews  with  their  boats 
and  full  equipment  on  a  special  train,  and  started  for 
the  flooded  cities  before  the  Government  had  even  asked 
the  Pennsylvania  for  transportation.  These  crews  ar- 
rived in  time  to  do  great  service. 

29 


A  Railroad *s  Organization  for  War 

To  understand  what  was  done  in  the  campaign 
against  the  flood  and  how  it  was  done,  it  may  not  count 
as  a  digression  to  explain  generally  the  organization 
which  fought  the  battles. 

As  early  as  Tuesday  night  the  Board  of  Strategy 
was  in  session  in  Pittsburgh.  From  that  time  until  Sun- 
day, April  5th,  it  was  in  continuous  session  day  and 
night.  The  ''Board  of  Strategy"  was  made  up  of  the 
higher  general  officers  of  the  road  and  their  assistants, 
with  their  consulting  staff  of  engineers,  motive  power 
and  transportation  men. 

Everything  was  done  in  the  name  of  the  General 
Manager.  What  was  going  on  in  the  sixteen  divisions 
of  the  road  was  reported  to  this  Board,  and  it  was  thus 
in  absolute  control  of  and  in  touch  with  the  situation. 
Its  information  was  made  possible  by  the  work  of  the 
Superintendent  of  Telegraph,  who  had  moved  his  offices 
next  to  that  of  the  Board  of  Strategy,  and  was  there 
carrying  on  his  campaign  of  wire  restoration.  For  the 
first  thirty-six  hours  every  one  was  on  duty;  after  that 
they  averaged  eighteen  hours  a  day  individually. 

The  three  general  superintendents  of  the  three  sys- 
tems— the  Northwest,  the  Central  and  the  •  Southwest — 
established  headquarters  where  they  could  be  in  touch 
with  their  own  divisions  and  with  headquarters  at  Pitts- 
burgh. 

*     *     *     * 

Now,  the  general  organization  of  the  road  is  very 
simple,  and  it  may  be  interesting  to  the  lay  reader  to 
explain  it,  beginning  at  the  bottom  and  working  to 
the  top. 

At  the  foundation  are  the  laborers  and  trackwalkers. 
The  trackwalkers  are  continuously  on  duty  patrolling 
the  tracks.  If  a  trackwalker  finds  anything  amiss  he 
immediately  notifies  his  section  foreman,  who  gets  out 
his  gang  and  repairs  the  damage  or  reports  to  his  imme- 

30 


Track  of  Main  New  York-St.  Louis  Line  Near 

Ncwcomerstown,  Ohio 

31 


diate  superior  officer,  the  supervisor,  if  the  job  is  more 
than  he  can  take  care  of.  The  supervisor,  who  has  many 
section  foremen  under  his  control,  orders  out  as  many 
gangs  as  are  necessary,  or,  in  the  event  that  this  is  not 
sufficient,  notifies  the  division  engineer,  who  has  under 
him  a  master  carpenter  and  his  forces,  a  master  mason 
and  his  forces,  a  work  train  foreman  and  his  crews,  anu 
a  body  of  assistant  engineers.  Should  the  job  transcend 
the  ability  of  a  single  division  engineer,  he  so  reports 
to  the  superintendent  of  the  division,  who  can  double 
or  treble  or  quadruple  his  forces. 

How  the  Work  Was  Overseen 

The  Division  Superintendent  has  the  General  Super- 
intendent, with  his  several  divisions,  to  draw  upon.  And 
in  the  event  that  the  matter  is  of  sufficient  importance, 
the  General  Superintendent  has  the  General  Manager 
behind  him,  with  control  of  all  the  resources  of  the  other 
General  Superintendents.  And  finally,  if  the  matter  is 
big  enough,  there  are  the  vice-presidents  and  all  the 
resources  of  the  great  Pennsylvania  Railroad  System 
east  and  west  of  Pittsburgh. 

Thus  the  General  Manager's  office  receives  the 
reports,  and  as  soon  as  there  is  really  widespread  and 
extended  trouble  he  organizes  his  office  forces  and 
divides  the  work  up  among  his  staff  officers.  He  first 
assembles  men  and  material.  In  a  case  such  as  the 
present  sufficient  material  is  not  available,  so  he  must 
put  in  orders  for  this  material  and  place  it  where  it  can 
be  used  to  best  advantage.  The  extra-labor  market,  too, 
is  affected,  because  the  cities  along  the  damaged  lines 
needed  all  the  labor  that  they  could  get  for  themselves- 
The  other  roads  were  equally  hard  hit.  There  could  be 
no  assistance  from  them. 

The  division  officers  never  wait  for  orders.  They 
collect  their  men  and  material  and  hasten  to  the  trouble. 
It  is  the  extra  material  that  is  wanted.     Their  general 

32 


superintendents  step  in  and  furnish  them  with  what  they 
will  need  in  addition.  This  they  would  do  generally,  by 
ordering  the  superintendent  of  another  division  to  gather 
up  his  men  and  tools,  go  to  the  stricken  division  and 
there  work  under  the  home  officers  to  the  best  advantage 
in  accomplishing  the  task  at  hand.  It  usually  happens 
that  there  are  two  ends,  and  they  work  toward  each 
other,  to  close  up  the  trouble. 

Where  washouts  are  long  and  deep,  the  most  essen- 
tial tool  is  a  pile-driver.  It  is  known  as  the  repair  tool 
par  excellence.  It  is  quicker  to  build  a  trestle  across  a 
big  break  than  to  fill  in.  In  fact,  a  filling  cannot  be 
made  if  a  bank  is  gone,  and  so  a  trestle  has  to  be  built 
anyway.  Thus,  it  is  necessary  to  get  a  sufficient  number 
of  pile-drivers.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  buy  them,  for 
they  are  only  made  as  ordered — and  this  takes  time.  It 
is  well  to  remember  that  the  better  the  condition  of  a 
road,  the  fewer  repair  tools  of  this  nature  it  possesses. 
It  is  the  poorly  constructed  roads  that  must  carry  the 
greatest  proportion  of  capital  in  their  repair  outfits. 
These  are  their  stock  in  trade,  so  to  speak. 

It  falls  on  the  engineering  department  immediately 
to  prepare  a  complete  list  of  steel  bridges  lost  or  dam- 
aged, and  to  make  full  and  detailed  estimates  for  re- 
placing these  structures,  together  with  the  plans  which 
the  bridge-material  makers  require  when  a  bridge  is 
ordered.  It  takes  some  months  to  build  a  steel  bridge, 
and  therefore  long  before  the  temporary  repairs  are 
made  all  plans  for  new  work  must  be  completed.  This 
was  more  than  ever  necessary  in  the  present  crisis,  since 
two  whole  States  were  involved  in  the  flood  and  many 
railroads,  and  because  the  road  which  first  got  in  its 
orders  would  have  its  work  done  first.  The  broken 
bridges  must  be  replaced  by  permanent  steel  structures 
before  the  winter  and  spring  freshets  come  again.  The 
temporary  work  will  not  hold  when  the  ice  goes  out  in 
the  rivers  again.     The  day  after  the  big  600-foot,  four- 


span  bridge  went  out  at  Tyndall  a  contract  was  placed 
for  an  entire  new  bridge  of  larger  dimensions  than  the 
one  destroyed,  and  the  same  day  the  mills  had  begun  on 
the  order. 

The  Commissary 

The  very  foundation  of  protracted  repair  work  is 
the  establishment  of  a  line  of  commissary.  An  army 
travels  on  its  stomach,  and  it  must  be  well  fed  and  well 
housed.  The  men  can  Work  the  first  night  or  two  with- 
out sleep,  but  a  long-drawn-out  fight  requires  rest  and 
relief.  So  it  becomes  necessary  for  the  division  ofificers 
who  are  out  on  the  job — that  is,  in  the  field — to  so 
organize  that  they  can  work  night  and  day,  and  always 
have  fresh  men.     An  army  moving  as  this  one  is  cannot 


Pennsylvania  Yard  at  Zanesville,  Ohio 
34 


live  in  towns  and  return  to  and  from  its  work  each  day. 
It  is  on  the  march.  As  fast  as  one  break  is  fixed  up  it 
moves  on  to  the  next.  The  work  never  stops.  A  section 
of  the  men  are  either  working  or  sleeping  all  the  time, 
day  and  night,  until  the  job  is  completed.     - 

All  this  presents  the  really  great  problem.  Food, 
rest,  warmth,  comfort.  Warmth  was  an  easier  matter 
in  the  old  days  when  each  car  had  its  own  stove.  Now 
there  must  always  be  a  live  engine  at  hand  to  send  its 
steam  through  the  car  pipes,  for  the  weather  is  no  more 
solicitous  for  the  comfort  of  the  men  than  the  flood. 
Rain  and  sleet  and  a  freezing  temperature  do  not  wait 
on  the  job;  they  attend  it.  If  it  so  happens  that  the 
materials  for  the  carpenters'  work,  say,  runs  out  for  the 
minute,  the  carpenters  go  in  the  warm  cars,  dry  their 
clothes  and  get  what  rest  they  can,  ready  to  be  up  and 
out  again  when  their  material  shall  have  been  brought 
up.  Time  is  the  essence  of  the  contract,  and  none  of 
it  can  be  wasted.  Thousands  of  men  are  at  work  in 
different  detachments  at  many  widely  separated  points 
— and  each  man  has  his  own  bunk. 

The  Motive  Power  Department  is  the  one  called 
upon  to  fix  up  the  temporary  camp  cars  for  the  men. 
The  nucleus  of  this  in  time  of  peace  is  the  wreck  train, 
which,  as  it  must  be  ready  to  move  any  minute,  day  or 
night,  of  course,  has  always  a  commissary.  The  bridge 
carpenters,  too,  have  a  camp  car,  and  these  can  be 
enlarged  at  once  by  the  cooking  force  available.  With 
these  as  a  beginning,  there  is  added  all  the  additional 
commissary  necessary  to  supply  the  army,  no  matter  how 
large  it  is. 

For  the  sleeping  accommodations  old  cars  are 
taken,  the  seats  removed  and  bunks  built  in.  For  the 
dining  cars,  long  tables  are  set  in  lengthwise  of  th.e 
cars  after  the  seats  have  been  taken  out.  Besides,  so 
far  as  the  discarded  equipment  of  the  road  will  supply 
dining  cars  and  sleepers,  they  are  utilized.     The  Penn- 

35 


sylvania  has  many  of  these,  which  have  gone  out  of 
regular  service  to  make  way  for  modern  steel  ones. 

The  unit,  then,  with  the  campaign  under  way,  is 
a  four-car  one — the  supply  car,  with  a  kitchen  car 
between  two  diners,  each  of  the  latter  capable  of  seating 
fifty  men  at  a  time.  Sleeping  accommodations  are  added 
according  to  the  number  of  men  at  work. 

Meals  are  served  four  times  in  each  twenty-four 
hours — at  6  a.  m.,  noon,  6  p.  m.  and  midnight.  As  the 
meals  always  must  be  warm,  nourishing  and  appetizing, 
it  can  readily  be  seen  what  a  proper  handling  of  the 
commissary  department  means.  Fresh  food  must  be  got 
to  each  one  of  these  trains  each  day,  and  that  alone  was 
a  tax  on  a  system  which  in  the  first  days  after  the  flood 
was  using  to  the  utmost  all  its  available  trackage  for  the 
forwarding  of  supplies,  construction  material  and  such 
other  trains,  passenger  and  freight,  as  had  to  be  moved. 

These  trains,  too,  supply  the  men  with  extra  shoes 
and  other  articles  of  wearing  apparel — trousers  or  shirts 
— and  tobacco  as  well,  and  always  without  any  charge 
for  them.  The  commissary  is  the  life  of  the  effort  to 
reopen  rail  communication,  and  on  it  depends,  in  great 
measure,  the  speed  and  general  efficiency  of  the  work. 


Ill 

Caring  for  Passengers 

Wednesday  morning,  March  26th,  the  Pennsylvania 
had  some  nineteen  marooned  passenger  trains  in  the 
flooded  territory.  The  officers  of  the  road  made  it  their 
first  business  to  look  after  their  passengers  on  these 
trains.  Every  train,  except  the  one  caught  in  the  Dayton 
station,  was  either  backed  or  pulled  onto  high  ground 
and  the  passengers  fed  and  housed  either  on  the  trains 
or,  if  their  locations  allowed,  were  taken  care  of  in  hotels 
or  private  houses.     The  company  paid  all  the  bills. 

The  passengers  passed  the  time  in  any  way  they  saw 
fit ;  and  several  men  on  one  train  that  was  held  in  Brad- 

36 


Bridge  No.  Zl ,  One  Mile  North  of  Rockford,  Ind. 

ford — as  there  was  a  printing  office  near  by — amused 
themselves  by  getting  out  a  newspaper  which  they  called 
*Tan  Handle  No.  lO/'  in  honor  of  the  official  designa- 
tion of  their  train. 

The  Passenger  Department  in  Pittsburgh,  early  this 
Wednesday  morning,  sent  agents  to  Altoona  to  board 
each  incoming  passenger  train.  All  passengers  for 
points  west  of  Pittsburgh  were  personally  and  indi- 
vidually interviewed  and  offered  a  choice  of  the  follow- 
ing  alternatives: 

Their  tickets  would  be  immediately  redeemed  in 
cash ; 

They  might  return  to  their  starting  points  free  of 
charge,  and  the  company  would  also   refund  them  the 


Z1 


money  paid  for  tickets  between  their  starting  points  and 
Pittsburgh  ; 

They  could  hold  their  tickets  to  points  farther  west 
and  have  free  transportation  home,  returning  when  the 
railway  to  the  west  was  opened;  or 

The  road  would  take  them  as  far  as  it  could,  and 
then,  if  any  other  line  of  railway  was  open,  the  road 
would  see  to  it  that  their  tickets  were  honored  on  these 
lines — no  matter  how  roundabout  the  route. 

The  passengers  were  not  asked  for  an  immediate 
answer,  but  were  allowed  the  time  between  Altoona  and 
Pittsburgh — three  hours — in  which  to  come  to  a  decision. 

Generally  speaking,  those  who  were  on  their  way 
home  decided  to  keep  on  going,  while  the  others  took 
free  passage  to  their  starting  points. 

The  cashier's  office  ran  twenty-four-hour  sessions, 
and  a  passenger  was  delayed  only  so  long  as  he  would 
have  been  to  cash  a  check  in  a  bank.  There  was  a  rate 
clerk  in  attendance  to  figure  up  the  amount  of  money 
due  on  a  ticket.  When  this  was  done,  the  passenger 
handed  it  to  the  cashier  and  got  his  money.  In  every 
city  on  the  system  the  same  process  was  in  vogue. 

Messages  were  forwarded  to  various  passenger 
agents  in  the  flooded  districts  two  or  three  hours  before 
the  wires  went  down,  telling  therri  to  go  ahead  and  use 
their  own  judgment,  without  instructions,  to  make  the 
passengers  comfortable.  Men  were  sent  from  these 
offices  to  the  marooned  trains,  so  that  each  train  had 
some  department  official  to  look  after  it.  In  these  last 
messages  sent  was  this  warning:  ''Be  careful  to  notify 
all  passengers  before  and  after  boarding  all  trains  of 
the  exact  situation." 

There  was  little  difficulty  in  providing  for  the  pas- 
sengers in  the  seven  trains  marooned  at  Columbus,  Ohio. 
They  were  on  high  ground  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river  to  that  section  of  the  city  which  suffered  from  the 
flood.  There  were  many  sleeping  cars  and  diners  in 
these  trains,  and  a  city  to  draw  upon.     They  were  pro- 

38 


vided  for  by  the  company  just  the  same,  and  were  for- 
warded either  east  or  west  at  the  first  opportunity. 

Quite  different  were  the  experiences  of  the  pas- 
sengers on  the  three  trains  which  were  marooned  at 
Bradford,  Ohio.  The  first  of  these  trains,  consisting  of 
five  cars,  left  St.  Louis  at  7  a.  m.^  March  24th.  It  had 
managed  to  get  two  miles  east  of  Bradford  at  8.45  p.  m., 
when  it  was  ordered  back  to  high  ground. 

The  second  train  left  Chicago  for  Pittsburgh  at  7 
o'clock  Monday  evening,  and  at  half -past  5  Tuesday 
morning  was  safely  moored  at  Bradford.  The  third 
train  was  a  Chicago-New  York  train  of  eleven  cars,  four 
of  which  were  sleepers.  This  train  had  pulled  out  of 
Chicago  at  9.45  p.  m.  ^londay,  and  had  arrived  at  Brad- 
ford at  half-past  10  Tuesday  morning. 

As  many  of  the  passengers  as  could  be  cared  for 
lodged  in  the  sleeping  cars.  The  others  slept  in  the  rail- 
way Y.  M.  C.  A.  at  Bradford.  This  Y.  M.  C.  A.  fur- 
nished meals  for  every  one  up  to  Saturday  morning, 
which  was  the  limit  of  the  Bradford  visit. 


-M 

'1 

^K 

.^JM 

Vkiffel 

y^«^ 

Four  and  One-half  Miles  West  of  Coshocton.     Bridge  No.  100 

Destroyed,   Breaking   Main   Line   Between 

New  York  and  St.  Louis 

39 


On  Saturday  a  special  train  was  made  up  to  take 
all  the  marooned  passengers  of  these  three  trains  out  of 
Bradford.  The  road  had  been  repaired  as  far  as  the 
bridge  at  Piqua.  Over  this  bridge,  which,  though  it  was 
still  in  place,  was  unsafe  for  the  passage  of  trains,  the 
travelers  proceeded  on  foot.  A  plank  walk  had  been 
laid,  railings  raised  on  each  side,  while  the  whole  bridge 
was  lighted  by  electric  lights.  It  was  a  rather  cheerful 
procession  that  moved  east  across  the  Great  Miami 
River. 

The  passengers  then  boarded  their  second  special 
train,  which  carried  them  to  another  unsafe  bridge  which 
crosses  the  Scioto  River,  about  four  miles  west  of 
Columbus.  Here  another  transfer  was  made  on  foot, 
also  over  a  boardwalk  between  the  rails,  though  this  time 
light  was  furnished  by  oil  torches,  which  added  to  the 
weirdness  of  the  scene.  There  were  plenty  of  trainmen 
here,  who  carried  the  wanderers'  grips.  A  third  special 
pulled  these  travelers  into  Columbus,  arriving  there  20 
minutes  before  midnight,  and  such  of  them  as  desired 
to  took  their  fourth  special  for  the  east,  at  10  minutes 
to  2  Sunday  morning. 

The  single  sheet,  two-paged  "Pan  Handle  No.  10" 
is  dated  Thursday,  March  27th,  from  'The  Isle  of  Brad- 
ford." The  poet,  who  is  very  active  throughout  the  pub- 
lication, then  contributes : 

"Little  drops  of  water,  falling  through  the  air. 
Puts  the  Pennsy  Railroad  on  the  bum  for  fair." 

There  follows  a  list  of  fifty-three  names  and 
addresses  of  passengers  on  the  train,  who  own  1  per 
cent,  or  more  of  the  capital  stock  of  this  corporation, 
which  purports  to  be  sworn  to  before  a  notary  public, 
who  adds  after  his  signature,  "My  commission  expires 
as  soon  as  these  dog-gorie  waters  go  down,  as  I  am 
moving  to  the  mountains." 

40 


Cincinnati — Smith  Street  Freight  Station  when  the  Ohio  River 
was  at  its  Highest  Stage 

Under  the  headline,  ''The  Excursion  from  Bradford 
Isle,"  there  is  much  more  of  truth  than  of  fiction.  It 
makes  interesting  reading  and  also  throws  some  light  on 
the  situation:  "At  2.30  the  welcome  news  of  a  trip  to 
Piqua  was  announced."  Welcome  news  it  was,  notwith- 
standing the  horrible  drizzle  that  continued  to  pour 
down.  The  idea  of  a  train  that  actually  moved  appealed 
to  all. 

"Anxious  to  take  the  trip,  we  were  the  first  to 
arrive  on  deck,  and  were  greeted  by  a  vigorous  pull  from 
the  engine  which  gave  us  the  appearance  of  real  rail- 
roaders. We  started  slowly,  to  be  sure.  If  anything 
was  ever  beautifully  said,  it  was  'Water,  water  every- 
where.' The  entire  country  seemed  immersed.  Finally 
Piqua  was  reached.  We  shall  probably  never  forget  the 
sights  that  greeted  us — the  swollen  river,  the  broken 
bridges,  the  floating  houses  and  trees ;  such  havoc  as  we 
had  never  imagined.     We  were  marveling  at  the  awful- 

41 


ness  of  the  scene  when  it  was  suddenly  announced  that 
our  boat  would  return  in  30  minutes.  We  waded  back, 
fully  reconciled  to  the  fact  that  our  visit  in  Bradford 
was  to  be  of  some  duration.  But  what  did  we  care,  if 
Bradford  was  still  willing  to  welcome  and  entertain  the 
passengers  of  the  fated  No.  10?" 
The  poet  speaks  again : 

'Twenty  good  men  in  No.  10, 
Each   with   a   wooden   fountain  pen; 
Each  with  a  pipe  or  cigarette. 
Sat  in  a  Pullman,  watching  the  wet. 

**The  driving  rain  kept  coming  down, 
It  hit  the  tracks,  it  drenched  the  town; 
And  then  the  rain  gave  place  to  snow. 
But  still  the  train  refused  to  go. 

"We're  here  because  we're  here,  you  see; 
Excuse  this  weak  hilarity." 

And  the  poet  concludes  that,  though  they  were  at 
first  worried  over  the  delay,  still  there  is  a  heap  of  people 
homeless  and  worse,  and  the  Lord  is  with  them  at 
Bradford. 

Getting  Out  Marooned  Trains 

Exactly  329  marooned  passengers  passed  over  the 
bridge  four  miles  west  of  Columbus  Saturday  night. 

The  train  that  left  Cleveland  at  9  o'clock  Monday 
night  on  the  Akron  division,  for  Columbus  and  points 
farther  south  and  west,  carried  114  passengers.  About 
4  o'clock  Tuesday  morning  this  train  had  arrived  at  a 
little  station  called  Brink  Haven,  106  miles  from  Cleve- 
land. It  had  been  due  in  Columbus  two  hours  earlier 
than  this — and  Columbus  was  still  60  miles  to  the  south. 
But  the  going  had  been  very  bad  and  great  care  had 
been    necessary,    particularly    over    a    bridge    between 

42 


Millersburg  and  Killbuck,  some  14  miles  north  of  Brink 
Haven.     This  bridge  later  went  out. 

The  conductor's  orders  at  Brink  Haven  had  a 
finality  to  them:  "Tell  (the  official  name  of  the  train) 
they're  stuck.  Keep  out  of  water,  if  they  have  to  use 
the  main  track." 

There  was  high  ground  about  Brink  Haven,  but 
around  about  was  the  worst  of  the  flooded  district.  The 
track  to  north,  whence  they  had  come,  was  an  ascending 
grade. 

The  conductor  remained  in  the  station  for  further 
orders  or  information  after  he  had  told  the  engineer  to 
back  away  from  the  water  as  it  approached.  The  water 
rose  very  fast  and  threateningly  about  the  station  itself, 
and  the  conductor  busied  himself  in  assisting  the  station 
agent  to  remove  his  tickets,  books  and  papers  to  a  safer 
place.  The  ticket  agent  assured  the  conductor  that  he 
could  get  a  boat  whenever  he  wanted  it.  The  pair 
worked  along  until  well  after  daylight,  and  then,  with 
the   water  knee   deep   over  the  platform,  they  whistled 


Bridge  No.  83,  Akron  Division,  Over  Kokosing  River. 
Later  View  of  Bridge  Shown  on  Page  13 

43 


This  is  a 


for  the  boat  which  didn't  come.  So  they  captured  some 
railroad  ties  as  they  floated  past,  nailed  cleats  across 
them,  and  on  this  improvised  raft  started  for  the  train. 
It  was  a  t>vo-hours'  job  to  reach  dry  ground,  and  once 
during  the  trip  the  conductor  fell  off  the  raft  in  water 
over  his  head.  He  managed  to  clamber  back  again,  none 
the  worse  for  his  ducking.  He  finally  reached  his  train 
and  informed  his  passengers  that,  as  the  tracks  were 
gone  on  both  sides  of  them,  they  would  have  to  make 
up  their  minds  to  defer  further  traveling  for  a  while. 

There  were  two  houses  in  this  town  which  the  con- 
ductor rented.  At  these  houses  breakfast  was  served 
from  9  to  11  a.  m.  and  dinner  from  4  to  6  P.  m.  The 
farmers  in  the  neighborhood  soon  heard  of  this  tem- 
porary addition  to  the  town's  population,  and  they 
brought  eggs  and  butter  and  chickens  and  farm  produce 
generally.  Just  to  pass  the  time,  two  of  the  lady  pas- 
sengers said  that  they  would  prepare  the  meals  at  one 
of  the  houses. 

There  were  six  telegraph  operators  marooned  at 
Brink  Haven.  They  installed  instruments  in  the  baggage 
car  and  sent  all  the  messages  which  the  passengers 
desired.  There  were  plenty  of  them.  The  wire  service 
between  Akron  and  Brink  Haven  was  never  entirely  out 
of  commission,  which  gave  a  few  of  the  passengers  the 
idea  that  they  were  being  detained  longer  than  was  quite 
necessary.  They  came  to  that  conclusion  early  in  the 
week.  They  changed  their  minds  later.  When  the  water 
had  gone  down  and  the  train  was  backed  up  to  Killbuck 
on  Saturday,  where  every  variety  of  conveyance,  from 
antiquated  surrey  to  a  plain  farm  wagon,  had  been  col- 
lected to  carry  them  over  the  six  miles  of  an  awful  road 
necessary  to  be  traversed  to  get  to  the  special  on  the 
Millersburg  side  of  the  break,  several  lost  their  desire 
to  get  home,  and  decided  to  enjoy  a  little  longer  the 
hospitality  of  the  train.  It  was  Monday  night  before  the 
last  passenger  decided  to  travel  north.     They  saw  then 

44 


Bridge  No.  68,  Brink  Haven,  Ohio 

what  the  flood  really  amounted  to  and  how  tremendously 
severe  the  damage  had  been. 


As  early  as  Monday  night  at  8  o'clock  word  was 
received  in  Pittsburgh  of  a  washout  at  Mile  Post  167,  a 
point  eight  miles  east  of  Mansfield,  Ohio,  and  on  the 
main  line  of  the  Fort  Wayne  to  Chicago.  The  report 
stated  that  the  tracks  were  washed  out  in  a  cut  for  a 
distance  of  60  feet,  with  an  average  depth  of  20  feet. 

A  wreck  train  was  started  at  once  from  Pittsburgh 
with  the  bridge  carpenters.  Just  this  injury  to  the  road 
was  of  sufficient  importance  so  that  not  only  the  super- 
intendent of  the  division,  but  the  General  Superintendent 
of  the  Northwest  System,  left  at  midnight  on  a  special 
train.     It  was  raining  hard. 

There  was  no  delay  for  the  first  115  miles,  when 
the  special  train  ran  into  water — a  foot  and  a  half  of 
it  on  an  average  for  almost  two  miles.  They  got  through 
this  all  right  by  running  slowly  while  one  of  the  train- 

45 


men  walked  ahead  looking  out  for  ties  and  other  float- 
ing obstructions.  In  another  ten  miles  water  was  again 
encountered,  and  when  the  train  arrived  at  Wooster  it 
was  almost  up  to  the  floors  of  the  cars,  and  so  deep 
and  swift  as  to  make  further  progress  west  impossible. 
Killbuck  Creek  runs  through  the  Wooster  bottoms,  and 
it  had  covered  the  country  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach. 
The  roadbed  through  this  section  is  seven  feet  above  the 
ground  level  and  no  water  had  ever  before  got  over  the 
tracks.  Now,  with  the  embankment  as  a  dam,  the  water 
was  shooting  into  the  air,  making  a  wonderful  spray, 
so  great  was  its  force  and  so  swift  was  the  current. 
Killbuck  water  rose  all  day  Tuesday,  but  began  to  fall 
that  night.  Wednesday  morning  the  pile-driver  was  put 
to  work  as  soon  as  the  track  was  in  sight.  The  pile- 
driver  had  headed  the  procession  from  Pittsburgh.  In 
the  meantime  the  Tuscarawas  River  had  got  going  in 
the  rear,  and  the  wreck  train  and  special  were  thus  cut 
off  on  both  sides  of  Wooster.  All  three  tracks  were  out 
for  a  mile  and  a  half  at  Wooster — great  chasms  every 
few  feet. 

Some  time  on  Tuesday  night  Governor  Cox  had  sent 
out  a  call  for  the  National  Guard  to  proceed  immediately 
to  Dayton,  on  account  of  the  great  loss  of  life  reported 
there.  One  company  of  the  Fourteenth  Regiment  hailed 
from  Wooster.  This  company  was  assembled  by  the  riot 
call,  but  when  the  men  were  ready  to  move  they  found 
that  there  was  no  way  for  them  to  get  out  of  Wooster, 
as  all  the  railroads,  county  roads,  and  electric  lines  were 
washed  out. 

The  General  Superintendent  was  cut  off  all  Tuesday 
and  Wednesday  from  wire  communication  with  head- 
quarters. He  received  word,  however,  that  in  addition 
to  the  washout  first  reported,  which  was  still  many  miles 
to  the  west  of  him,  three  steel  bridges  and  one  stone  arch 
were  badly  washed  at  either  end  for  from  40  to  60  feet 
in  length,  and  from  10  to  15  feet  in  depth;    that  three 

46 


North  of  Bridge  Xo.  123,  North  of  Warsaw,  Ohio.     Track  was, 

Before  the  Flood,  on  a  High  Embankment 

47 


steel  bridges  were  completely  swept  away,  leaving  chasms 
300  feet  in  length  and  20  feet  in  depth;  another  steel 
bridge  was  damaged  and  two  steel  arches  entirely  gone; 
one  about  thirty  feet  in  width,  with  embankment  ap- 
proaches twenty  feet  high,  left  a  hole  600  feet  long  and 
25  feet  deep. 

The  bridge  forces,  500  men  and  one  pile-driver,  had 
succeeded  by  Wednesday  morning  in  reaching  a  point 
four  miles  west  of  Wooster,  where  the  trains  were 
again  stalled  by  water  over  the  tracks.  Two  telegraph 
operators  were  rescued  here  after  a  two-day  maroon- 
ment  in  their  tower.  There  had  been  no  means  before 
to  get  assistance  to  them. 

By  Thursday  this  force  had  left  Wooster  18  miles  in 
the  rear,  when  they  found  the  roadbed  washed  out  in 
two  places  800  feet  ^long  and  8  feet  in  depth,  with  the 
rails  and  ties  entirely  swept  away.  All  day  was  re- 
quired to  build  a  temporary  track  on  the  ground  to 
enable  them  to  reach  Loudonville,  where  they  arrived 
Friday  evening,  only  to  find  themselves  confronted  with 
another  600-foot  break. 

Many  men  had  been  met  who  asked  transportation 
to  various  places.  Only  one  met  with  success.  He  had 
been  refused,  along  with  the  others,  when  he  finally  an- 
nounced that  he  was  the  Loudonville  baker^and  Lou- 
donville's  only  baker.  He  said  that  if  they  would  give 
him  a  lift  he  would  bake  all  the  bread  that  the  outfit 
needed — in  Loudonville.  As  his  case  seemed  to  fall 
under  the  head  of  either  necessity,  charity  or  mercy,  he 
got  his  ride.     And  then  he  baked  the  bread. 


IV 

Rescuing  the  Railroad 

In  the  meantime  other  gangs  had  been  organized 
and  were  putting  the  track  in  safer  condition  pending 
the  arrival  of  material  from  the  east  to  make  the  final 
repairs.     Before  the  General  Superintendent  left  Pitts- 

48 


burgh  he  had  arranged  for  complete  commissary  trains, 
including  a  hospital  car,  a  doctor,  and  all  necessities  for 
caring  for  the  sick. 

Emergency  material  trains  followed  in  quick  suc- 
cession. 

The  end  of  the  washouts  was  only  15  miles  west 
of  Loudonville,  and  between  this  point  and  Wooster 
all  the  bridges  above  referred  to  were  located.  Thus 
the  greatest  damage  was  done  within  a  space  of  33 
miles.  The  emergency  trains  carried  a  complete  tele- 
graph and  telephone  outfit.  There  was  a  telegraph  re- 
pair train,  too.  By  Friday  evening  there  was  full  tele- 
graph and  telephone  connection  with  Pittsburgh. 

While  this  work  was  going  on  from  the  east,  other 
pile-drivers  and  their  gangs  were  working  from  the  west 
end  of  the  washouts.  By  noon  of  Thursday,  April  3d, 
they  met.  There  was,  too,  at  the  same  time,  work  going 
on  by  half  a  dozen  other  organized  gangs  at  different 
places  on  the  division,  each  in  charge  of  a  responsible 
engineer.  For  the  first  two  days  every  one  worked  night 
and  day,  soaking  wet  most  of  the  time.  After  the  rain 
ceased,  the  themometer  fell  below  the  freezing  point. 

Heretofore  two  days — and  that  happened  only  once 
— was  the  longest  period  of  time  the  main  line  of  the 
Pittsburgh,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago  Railway  was  ever 
blocked. 


The  General  Superintendent  of  the  Central  System, 
whose  headquarters  is  at  Toledo,  Ohio,  had  an  appoint- 
ment with  the  Division  Superintendent  of  the  Akron 
division  for  an  inspection  trip  over  this  division  (which 
runs  south  to  Columbus,  Ohio),  on  Tuesday,  March  25th. 
He  left  Toledo  on  Monday  and  spent  the  night  in  Cleve- 
land. At  midnight  he  received  a  message  from  the 
Akron  Division  Superintendent  saying  that  the  very 
hard  rains  and  high  water  were  causing  so  many  wash- 
outs that  the   trip   would  have  to  be  postponed.     The 

49 


General  Superintendent  immediately  came  to  Akron ;  and 
there  he  remained  through  the  campaign,  as  Akron  was 
better  suited  strategically  for  control  of  his  territory. 
Besides,  his  wire  communication  was  better.  Toledo  was 
shut  off  for  six  days. 

Upon  his  arrival  in  Akron  his  first  efforts  were  di- 
rected to  finding  out  the  extent  of  the  floods,  not  only 
on  the  Akron  division,  but  on  his  other  divisions  as 
well — Zanesville,  Toledo  and  Marietta.  There  was  such 
a  general  breaking  down  of  the  lines  of  telegraph  and 
telephone  communication  that  it  was  difficult  to  get  any 
sort  of  a  comprehensive  notion  of  the  extent  of  the 
floods.  Altogether  it  was  early  apparent  that  his  sys- 
tem had  never  suffered  any  disaster  approaching  this 
one. 

The  Akron  division  superintendent,  after  spending 
this  Tuesday  in  receiving  reports  of  the  situation  and 
vainly  endeavoring  to  ascertain  the  real  conditions,  de- 
cided to  get  through  his  flood  territory  personally,  by 
any  means  that  might  be  possible — on  foot,  by  boat,  by 
train  or  what  not. 

So  at  5  o'clock  Wednesday  morning  the  division 
superintendent  and  his  engineer  set  out.  They  made 
the  first  seven  miles  by  train,  when  they  came  upon  a 
five-hundred-foot  washout,  through  which  the  water  was 
pouring  with  such  a  strong  current  that  a  detour  of 
three  miles  on  foot  was  the  only  way  to  get  around  it. 
The  next  six  miles  were  also  made  on  foot,  which  in- 
cluded a  climb  along  the  hillside  for  about  a  mile,  as  the 
tracks  for  about  this  distance  were  five  feet  under  water. 
At  Warwick,  fourteen  miles  from  Akron,  they  managed 
to  get  a  boat,  which  carried  them  seventeen  miles  and 
enabled  them  to  reach  a  switching  engine  which  had 
been  sent  out  from  Orville  to  carry  them  to  Orville. 

The  Akron  division  crosses  the  main  line  at  Orville, 
and  it  was  only  10  miles  to  the  west  of  Orville  that  the 
General   Superintendent  of  the  Northwest  System  was 

SO 


Bridge  No.  120,  Over  Killbuck  Creek,  Akron  Division 
51 


fighting  his  battle  at  Wooster.  Next,  a  work  train  was 
overtaken  and  the  journey  continued  18  miles  to  Holmes- 
ville,  where  the  heavy  washout  district  began.  There 
was  no  going  by  the  railroad  or  on  the  roadbed  any 
farther,  so  they  secured  a  wagon  and  took  the  hill  road 
to  Millersburg,  a  distance  of  six  miles.  They  arrived 
here  after  dark,  having  covered  a  total  of  51  miles  since 
5  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

The  water  fell  somewhat  in  the  night,  and  in  the 
morning  the  first  means  of  conveyance  used  was  a  hand 
car.  Their  progress  was  very  slow,  because  the  water 
was  generally  over  the  tracks  in  the  washed-out  sections, 
and  the  track  itself  covered  with  debris,  which  had  to 
be  removed  to  permit  the  hand  car  to  proceed  at  alL 
A  good  part  of  the  way  the  hand  car  had  to  be  poled 
along.  Between  Millersburg  and  Killbuck,  a  distance  of 
six  miles,  several  miles  of  track  were  actually  washed 
out,  generally  to  a  depth  of  five  or  six  feet.  It  required 
the  entire  morning  to  cover  this  stretch. 

The  Cleveland  train,  marooned  at  Brink  Haven,  was 
visited.  After  that  the  trip  was  continued,  meeting 
trouble  at  short  intervals.  It  was  over  the  road  that  the 
Division  Superintendent  had  just  come  that  these 
marooned  passengers  would  be  taken  north  in  two  days. 
And  it  had  to  be  repaired  in  the  meantime. 

Traffic  was  not  restored  over  the  entire  Akron  divi- 
sion for  ten  days,  and  that  in  the  face  of  a  force  of 
more  than  1200  men  working  near  their  base  of  supplies 
— ?*^d  at  high  pressure. 

The  Central  System  alone  lost  nine  steel  bridges 
and  had  four  others  so  damaged  that  they  must  be  re- 
constructed. The  washouts  were  so  numerous  that  it 
is  the  literal  truth  to  say  that  hundreds  of  sections  of 
track  had  to  be  repaired  before  any  engine  or  train 
could  pass  over  them. 

52 


At  Jeffersonville,  Ind.,  the  water  on  one  side  of  the 
"Panhandle"  fill  was  twenty  feet  higher  than  on  the  other 
or  city  side.  Hard  work  by  the  road's  employes  kept  this 
bank  from  caving  in  or  giving  way.  Tarpaulins  were 
used  to  prevent  the  bank  from  washing  and  sandbags  for 
filling  purposes.  More  than  17,000  bags  of  sand  and 
cement  were  dumped  at  the  weak  places.  Had  the  bank 
given  way  it  meant  a  depth  of  water  exceeding  twelve 
feet  in  various  parts  of  the  city.  The  Common  Council 
was  so  impressed  by  the  work  of  the  road's  employes 
that  they  passed  a  resolution  thanking  the  Pennsylvania 
for  saving  the  city ! 

The  resolution  was  approved  and  signed  on  the  7th 
of  April,  1913.     The  preamble  reads: 

"Whereas,  The  fill  of  the  P.  C.  C.  &  St.  L.  Ry.  Co., 
in  Clarksville,  Indiana,  saved  this  city  from  being  flooded 
during  the  recent  high  water;   and, 

"Whereas,  The  citizens  of  this  city  owe  the  P.  C. 
C.  &  St.  L.  Ry.  Co.,  and  its  officers,  a  debt  of  gratitude 


Jeffersonville,   Ind.— General  View  of  the  Fill.     Water  on  One 

Side  About  Twenty  Feet  Higher  Than  on  the  Other  Side. 

If  this  Bank  Had  Given  Way  it  Would  Have  Flooded 

the  Whole  Town  of  Jeffersonville 

53 


that  it  will  be  impossible  to  pay  because  of  the  building 
and  maintaining  of  said  fill,  and  preserving  the  same 
durinef  the  recent  flood." 


*        *        H=       * 


At  Cincinnati,  the  passenger  offices  were  kept  open 
from  7  A.  M.  to  10  p.  M.,  from  March  25th  to  April  13th. 
Of  course,  there  were  thousands  of  inquiries  there  as 
to  what  railroad  conditions  were,  not  only  by  the  trav- 
elers held  up  there,  but  by  others  who  wanted  to  get  to 
various  cities  as  soon  as  they  could  rely  on  means  of 
transportation.  The  Pennsylvania  adopted  a  novel  and 
very  effective  way  of  imparting  this  information  at  the 
least  inconvenience  to  the  traveling  public.  At  6  o'clock 
every  evening,  as  soon  as  the  officials  had  learned  what 
the  service  next  day  would  be,  a  bulletin  was  published 
giving  full  and  correct  information  without  the  least 
regard  to  securing  business.  Of  these  bulletins  there 
were  published  from  80  to  100,  and  they  were  sent  to 
the  other  railway  ticket  offices,  the  hotels,  clubs  and 
newspapers.  They  came  to  be  regarded — and  properly 
— as  the  official  railway  time  table.  They  saved  an  im- 
mense amount  of  annoyance  and  extra  labor  to  the  trav- 
eling public. 

The  Destruction  in  Figures 

To  go  into  detail  of  the  Pennsylvania  losses  will 
hardly  furnish  an  adequate  idea  of  the  losses  as  a  whole, 
but  it  may  be  interesting  to  give  a  few  totals,  only  sug- 
gesting that  the  problem  met  would  not  have  been  a 
simple  one  had  the  damage  been  concentrated  instead  of 
being  widely  scattered,  and  consequently  very  difficult 
to  get  at  efficiently. 

Number  of  bridges  lost   24 

Number  of  bridges  damaged    50 

Number  of  spans  lost  39 

Number  of  spans  damaged  48 

54 


Bridges  lost — Length  in  feet  of  road 3597 

Bridges  lost — Length  in  feet  of  single  track 4318 

Bridges  damaged — Length  in  feet  of  road. 4189 

Bridges  damaged — Length  in  feet  of  single  track.  6239 

The  estimated  cost  of  replacing  these  bridges 
is  $1,027,116. 

Length  of  trestle  built  for  single  track,  in  miles.  .  L94 

Length  of  trestle  built  for  double  track,  in  miles.  .  0.96 

Length  of  trestle  built  for  three  tracks,  in  miles.  .  0.02 

Length  of  trestle  built — Miles  of  road 2.92 

Length  of  trestle  built  equivalent  to  miles  single 

track    3.92 

The  estimated  cost  of  these  trestles  is  $336,144. 

Length  of  single  track  road  requiring  repairs,  in 

miles  88.7 

Length  of  double  track  road  requiring  repairs,  in 

miles 4L1 

Length  of  three-track  road  requiring  repairs,  in 

miles   2.5 

Length  of   four-track   road   requiring   repairs,   in 

miles  2.8 

Length  of  road  requiring  repairs,  in  miles 135.1 

Length   of   road   requiring   repairs,   equivalent   to 

miles   single  track    189.6 

The  estimated  cost  of  these  repairs  to  the 
road  is  $1,396,290. 

Li  addition  to  the  above,  damage  to  stations  and 
other  buildings  was  $70,900;  to  equipment,  $84,285;  and 
to  telegraph  lines,  $107,505. 

*     *     *     * 

The  direct  property  loss  to  the  Pennsylvania  is  esti- 
mated at  $3,600,000  in  round  numbers,  and  it  pro- 
vides the  most  pertinent  of  arguments  for  allowing  the 
railroads  to  so  fix  their  rates  as  to  provide  for  a  surplus. 
The  cost  of  repairment,  under  the  ruling  of  the  Inter- 

55 


state  Commerce  Commission,  must  be  charged  to  oper- 
ating expenses.  So  heavily  have  low  compulsory  rates 
weighed  on  many  of  the  public  utilities  companies  that 
the  damage  done  by  the  flood  has  wiped  out  the  surplus 
of  many  of  them  and  they  are  now  in  the  hands  of  re- 
ceivers.    Others  have  been  very  badly  crippled. 

Typical  Troubles 

Where  all  did  so  well  in  the  face  of  unexampled 
disaster,  it  seems  almost  invidious  to  select  one  division 
for  more  extended  treatment  than  another.  But  there 
are  reasons  why  the  Pittsburgh  division,  the  main  line 
of  the  Pan  Handle  from  Pittsburgh  to  Columbus,  may 
be  selected  as  typical.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  main 
line ;  in  the  second  place,  it  got  an  awful  man-handling ; 
for  a  third  reason,  its  damage  was  late  and  not  wholly 


Zanesville,  Ohio.     Pennsylvania  Bridge  Over  Muskingum  River 

56 


I 


expected,  and  finally,  its  tracks  were  under  water  sub- 
stantially for  a  distance  of  51  miles — from  Tuscarawas, 
94  miles  west  of  Pittsburgh,  to  Black  Run,  45  miles  east 
of  Columbus.  Zanesville  is  only  16  miles  to  the  south 
of  this  line,  and  the  big  lake  drained  into  and  through 
Zanesville. 

It  was  Tuesday  morning,  March  25th,  as  the 
officers  of  the  Pittsburgh  division  were  starting  on  their 
spring  inspection  trip,  that  they  received  news  of  trouble 
on  other  parts  of  the  system.  As  the  heavy  rain  con- 
tinued to  fall  and  the  storm  increased  in  intensity,  it 
was  decided  to  postpone  the  trip  and  return  to  head- 
quarters, where  they  would  be  in  better  position  to  extend 
assistance  to  other  divisions,  or  even  to  help  themselves 
in  case  their  particular  line  of  railway  should  suffer. 

They  reached  Pittsburgh  at  5  p.  ai.  Tuesday  and 
soon  received  reports  of  damage  to  their  own  division, 
though  nothing  serious.  There  was  a  washout  near 
Black  Run — eventually  the  lake's  limit  to  the  west — but 
this  news  wasn't  received  until  a  quarter  after  9  o'clock. 
In  a  little  more  than  an  hour  came  the  report  of  the 
destruction  of  the  big  bridge  at  Tyndall.  This  meant 
that  the  line  was  cut  in  two,  and  that  conditions  with 
them  were  very  serious.  And,  as  it  turned  out,  the 
attacking  forces  from  the  east  and  west  were  not  to 
reach  and  complete  the  trestling  where  this  bridge  had 
stood,  and  thus  open  up  the  line  again,  for  almost  three 
weeks — with  1400  men  working  from  the  east  and  from 
600  to  800  men  working  from  the  west!  The  Musk- 
ingum River  rose  13  feet  in  the  darkness  of  Tuesday 
night  and  Wednesday  morning.  And  that  was  only  the 
beginning. 

The  trackwalker  immediately  east  of  the  Tyndall 
bridge  stuck  to  his  job  until  the  water  was  well  over  the 
tracks  and  actual  danger  menaced  any  approaching  train. 
Then  he  walked  down  into  the  water  to  the  shed  tele- 
phone  and  made   his   report   to   his   father,   the   section 

57 


foreman.  He  was  standing  in  water  breast  high  to  tele- 
phone. "All  right,"  his  father  answered;  "now,  you  get 
for  the  hills."     And  that  was  about  all  he  could  do. 

To  the  west  of  this  bridge  a  couple  of  miles  the 
trackwalkers,  with  their  foremen,  were  about  to  follow 
others  down  to  the  bridge.  The  water  then  was  so  high 
here  as  to  be  almost  up  to  the  tracks,  although  the 
embankment  is  a  very  high  one.  This  portion  of  the 
road  in  any  previous  flood  had  always  been  easily  able 
to  take  care  of  itself.  There  was  no  fear  for  the  bridge 
either,  though  it  was  closely  and  continuously  watched. 
By  this  time  the  Big  Four  was  detouring  its  trains  over 
the  Pittsburgh  division,  as  some  of  their  lines  were 
already  out  of  commission. 

One  of  the  trackwalkers  decided  that  he  needed,  or 
might  need,  a  rope  and  an  axe  for  work  at  the  bridge, 
so  the  foreman  said  that  he  and  the  others  would  go  right 


jf^BBMfc— ■»-  '^»^  ^T""""^^  us^iijwfc 

Street  Bridge,  Sharon,   Pa. 
58 


on  on  their  hand  car  without  waiting  while  this  track- 
walker secured  his  equipment.  When  he  got  his  tools 
he  was  to  follow  after  on  foot. 

The  hand  car  reached  the  bridge,  with  the  track 
under  them  in  good  condition  all  the  way.  The  water 
was  just  seeping  over  the  tracks  as  the  other  track- 
walker ploughed  after  them,  impeded  by  his  heavy  rain- 
coat, his  lantern  and  his  extra  load,  in  the  effort  he  was 
making  to  overtake  the  hand  car. 

The  rain  was  coming  down  in  torrents.  About  half 
way  to  the  bridge  he  came  upon  a  washout,  where  the 
water  had  torn  a  great  hole  in  the  embankment  and  the 
tracks  were  already  sagging  and  without  support.  He 
turned  immediately,  threw  away  his  raincoat  and  his  axe 
and  rope,  and,  with  his  lantern  and  one  fusee,  legged  it 
at  full  speed  in  the  direction  he  had  come,  for  he  heard 
an  approaching  train  whistling  not  far  away.  He  knew 
that  he  must  stop  the  train.  The  storm  was  so  severe, 
the  rain  so  heavy  and  the  wind  so  high,  that  his  lantern 
might  go  out  at  any  time.  The  conditions,  even,  were 
so  bad  that  the  engineer  might  not  see  the  lantern.  When 
he  saw  the  train  he  lighted  the  fusee  and  waved  it  as  he 
ran;  and  the  train  was  stopped  not  far  in  front  of  the 
washout.  It  proved  to  be  two  of  the  Big  Four  pas- 
senger trains  being  detoured,  combined  as  a  "double- 
header,"  with  several  hundred  passengers.  It  backed  up 
all  the  way  to  Columbus  in  safety. 

Conesville,  less  than  two  miles  from  the  Tyndall 
bridge,  was  this  trackwalker's  home.  The  water  was 
rising  fast  in  Conesville.  His  duty  to  the  railroad  done, 
our  trackwalker's  attention  was  directed  to  his  personal 
and  domestic  interests.  He  was  the  owner  of  a  litter  of 
pretty  well-grown  pigs,  which  meant  a  good  deal  to  him. 
He  also  had  a  haymow  not  far  from  where  the  pigs 
were  kept.  Through  water  waist  deep  he  carried  these 
pigs  and  then  lifted  them  up  to  an  assisting  neighbor, 
who  stood  on  the  top  of  the  mow.     And  to  hear  him 

59 


tell  the  story,  there  was  more  excitement  and  difficulty 
attending  the  Hfting  of  a  100-pound  pig  over  his  head 
— even  though  the  pig  was  submissiveness  itself — than  in 
wondering  whether  or  not  he  could  flag  the  Big  Four 
double-header,  with  its  dozen  coaches  of  living  human 
freight.  To  fill  to  the  brim  his  cup  of  adventure  he 
spent  the  night  in  a  church  pew — the  church  was  on 
good  high  ground — which  was  as  novel  an  experience  to 
him  as  either  of  the  other  two  which  had  immediately 
preceded  it. 

The  impelling  cause  of  the  destruction  of  the  Tyn- 
dall  bridge  was  the  lodgment  of  a  house  and  two  hay- 
stacks against  one  of  the  big  stone  piers.  The  current 
was  so  swift  and  powerful  that,  with  this  obstruction 
to  work  against,  the  water  was  driven  down  against  the 
foundation  of  the  pier,  scoured  it,  toppled  it  over  and 
dropped  the  steel  structure  into  the  river.  One  of  the 
trackwalkers  had  not  been  off  the  bridge  a  minute  before 
it  fell. 


Bridge  No.  146,  Over  Rocky  Fork,  Eastern  Division 
60 


Bridge  No.  48,  Three-quarters  of  a  Mile  East  of  Somerville,  Ohio 

When  the  Division  Superintendent  knew  that  his 
line  had  been  cut  in  two  by  the  destruction  of  this  bridge 
what  he  particularly  desired  was  a  first-class  engineer 
on  the  west  side  of  the  break,  to  take  charge  of  the 
work  there.  He  had  his  own  division  engineer  on  the 
east  side  with  him. 

Executing  Orders  Under  Difficulties 

There  was  a  headquarters  engineer  who  had  left 
Pittsburgh  late  on  Tuesday  and  gone  as  far  as  the  big 
shops  at  Dennison,  90  miles  from  Pittsburgh.  From  that 
point  on  Wednesday,  by  hand  car  and  on  foot,  accom- 
panied by  the  master  carpenter  of  the  division,  he  had 
worked  his  way  32  miles  to  Coshocton,  which  is  only 
5  miles  from  the  Tyndall  bridge.  As  the  master  car- 
penter soon  realized  his  danger  of  being  cut  off  from 
his  men  if  he  stayed  much  longer,  he  turned  for  home 
while  the  way  was  still  open. 

Now,  this  engineer  was  a  man  with  a  reputation 
for  going  where  he  was  ordered  and  doing  what  he  was 

61 


ordered  to  do,  no  matter  what  were  the  conditions  con- 
fronting him.  When  he  had  reached  Coshocton  he  had 
walked  to  the  hills,  and  over  the  waters  made  sure,  with 
the  aid  of  his  field  glasses,  that  the  bridge  at  Tyndall, 
5  miles  away,  was  really  down.  When  he  returned 
to  the  station  at  Coshocton,  he  received  a  request  by  tele- 
graph from  the  Division  Superintendent  to  go  to  Fra- 
zeysburg,  15  miles  to  the  west  of  the  broken  bridge,  and 
take  charge  of  repair  work  from  that  side  of  the  break. 
The  superintendent  was  asked  at  the  time  how  he  ex- 
pected the  engineer  to  get  out  of  Coshocton  in  any  direc- 
tion, and  to  cross  the  Muskingum  in  the  bargain.  He 
answered  that  he  had  not  the  slightest  idea,  and  that  he 
also  had  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  he  would  find  some 
way  to  do  it. 

It  was  6  o'clock  Wednesday  night,  with  the  flood 
almost  at  its  height,  that  the  request  was  received.  The 
engineer  wasted  no  time.  For  fifty  times  their  regular 
fee,  two  ferrymen  at  Coshocton  agreed  to  try  and  land 
him  on  the  hills  to  the  south.  They  put  out  in  the  rain 
and  darkness  and  the  engineer  was  over  the  river  and 
on  ground — but  not  very  dry  ground — after  a  trying  and 
dangerous  trip  lasting  two  hours  and  a  half.  Here  he 
hunted  up  a  farmer  with  a  pair  of  stout  mules,  and  aided 
by  a  bribe  of  large  dimensions,  induced  him  to  take  the 
night  drive.  They  floundered  along  through  the  mud 
for  many  hours,  but  before  morning  the  Pittsburgh  divi- 
sion had  an  engineer  in  charge  at  the  west  end  of  the 
big  lake.  He  had  "got  through,"  as  it  was  expected 
that  he  would.  And  it  is  almost  an  anti-climax  to  record 
that  just  as  he  was,  with  such  extra  clothes  as  the  work 
trains  provided,  he  controlled  the  situation  as  engineer 
in  command  until  the  trestle  at  Tyndall  was  completed 
the  13th  of  April. 

*     *     *     * 

It  was  on  Thursday,  March  27th — the  matter  of 
time  was  a  very  important  one  in  the  early  days  of  the 

62 


o 

a; 
U) 

'u 


63 


flood — that  the  little  motor  boat,  the  Ora  May,  was  taken 
aboard  the  cars  at  Denison,  carried  4  miles  and  then 
launched  to  go  overland  33  miles  to  the  assistance  of  a 
marooned  tower  operator  near  the  Tyndall  bridge.  There 
was  no  craft  nearer  which  it  was  thought  could  live  in 
the  flood. 

When  the  waters  retreated  here  so  that  the  work 
of  repair  could  begin,  the  country  had  the  appearance 
of  a  land  over  which  an  enemy  had  passed  in  force  and 
done  its  worst.  Houses  and  outbuildings,  farm  imple- 
ments, buggies  and  wagons  of  every  description  were 
familiar  objects  dotting  the  landscape.  Where  there  had 
been  fine  stretches  of  roadbed  on  high  substantial  em- 
bankments, sometimes  for  a  distance  of  a  thousand  feet, 
it  would  require  a  vivid  imagination  to  conceive  that  it 
was  ever  more  than  a  dreary  waste  of  land.  No  ties, 
no  rails,  no  embankments  were  in  sight — just  pits  and 
chasms.  The  steel  rails  had  been  torn  from  the  ties,  and, 
like  the  ties,  had  been  floated  away  by  the  flood. 

The  job  was  rather  picturesquely  expressed  by  a 
superintendent:  *'You  organize  your  relief  trains  and 
your  work  train  gangs  and  your  material  trains  and  your 
commissary  and  equipment.  From  that  time  you  paddle 
right  through,  throwing  a  regiment  here  and  there  like 
an  army,  by  boat  or  highway.  You  go  as  far  as  you 
can — and  then  keep  going." 

There  is,  on  this  division,  the  second  oldest  super- 
visor on  the  road.  He  is  67  years  old.  He  took  the 
destruction  of  his  roadbed  as  a  personal  matter.  When 
he  had  been  driving  his  gangs  for  a  week  he  had  never 
had  his  clothes  off;  and  all  his  rest  had  been  occasional 
snatches  of  sleep,  for  an  hour  at  a  time,  sitting  in  a 
chair. 

The  regulars  cheerfully  worked  stretches  of  24  and 
36  hours  to  repair  breaks,  and  thus  make  it  possible  for 
others  to  advance.  This  was  the  spirit  that  permeated 
the  entire  organization.     To  have  been  with  this  army 

64 


and  to  have  seen  what  men  can  do  and  what  they  have 
done  in  the  face  of  every  kind  of  an  obstacle  of  weather 
and  nature  is  to  get  a  very  good  idea  of  what  real  war 
is  like.  War  cannot  produce  many  more  hardships  or 
demand  greater  ingenuity,  pluck,  skill  and  spirit  in  facing 
and  overcoming  them. 


Relief  Work 

The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  announced  publicly,  as 
early  as  Thursday,  March  27th,  that  it  would  transport 
free  of  charge  every  pound  of  relief  supplies  intrusted 
to  its  care  for  the  devastated  district,  as  well  as  the  men 
in  charge,  and  all  doctors  and  nurses.  They  would  be 
carried  over  the  Company's  own  lines,  if  they  were 
open;  or  over  other  lines,  if  the  Pennsylvania  was 
blocked;  or  over  any  known  combination  of  lines  and 
with  the  least  possible  delay.  They  would  have  the  right 
of  way  under  all  circumstances.  The  city  of  Dayton 
was,  of  course,  the  great  objective  at  that  time. 

There  left  Columbus  at  6.30  a.  m.,  on  Friday,  a  fully 
equipped  train  consisting  of  a  locomotive,  tool  car,  com- 
missary car,  dining  car  and  three  day  coaches  carrying 
a  force  of  65  mechanics,  picked  men,  the  cream  of  the 
Columbus  shops.  This  force  was  tendered  the  Governor 
of  Ohio  to  relieve  the  situation  in  Dayton,  or  for  any 
kind  of  work  needed  there  when  the  city  was  supposed 
to  be  half  a  morgue.  The  men  in  this  party  could  build, 
run,  or  destroy  a  city,  from  a  mechanical  standpoint. 
They  included  car  builders — that  is,  workers  in  wood — 
blacksmiths,  electricians  and  fitting-up  men — men  who 
can  put  together  any  piece  of  machinery  that  would  be 
used  under  any  normal  conditions.  There  were  also  men 
familiar  with  the  use  of  dynamite  and  high  explosives. 
The  tool  car  contained  an  outfit  to  move  buildings  or  to 
wreck  buildings;  to  raise  or  lower  bridges  or  any  like 
work.     They  brought  with  them  rations  for  five  days. 

65 


On  their  arrival  in  Dayton  the  coaches  were  turned  into 
sleeping  cars. 

This  train  pulled  out  of  Columbus  in  the  early  morn- 
ing, passing  through  West  Columbus,  where  the  flood 
had  done  such  awful  damage,  and  over  the  unsafe  bridge, 
four  miles  to  the  west,  with  full  knowledge  that  it  was 
unsafe.  This  was  the  last  train  allowed  over  this  bridge, 
but  the  pressing  nature  of  the  errand  demanded  that  the 
chance  be  taken.     The  men  took  it  willingly. 

After  much  detouring  the  train  reached  Dayton  at 
a  quarter  to  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  fore- 
man in  charge  was  met  by  a  freight  agent,  who,  with 
sixteen  others,  had  been  marooned  for  twenty-three 
hours  on  the  tops  of  freight  cars  in  the  Dayton  "local 
yard."  After  some  hours  of  effort  the  foreman  found 
the  proper  official  and  announced  to  him  that  he  had 
with  him  a  force  of  mechanics  from  the  Pennsylvania 
shops,  which  he  was  directed  to  place  at  the  disposal  of 
the  authorities,  equipped  to  perform  any  service  to  which 
it  might  be  assigned.  The  foreman  was  told  that  while 
the  organization  had  not  yet  been  perfected,  the  crying 
need  was  water  and  light.  Nothing,  however,  could  be 
done  until  morning,  owing  to  the  strict  rules  of  martial 
law.  The  curfew  rang  at  6  p.  m.,  and  no  one  without 
a  military  guard  was  allowed  on  the  streets  until  5  A.  M. 
the  next  day. 

Saturday  morning  General  Wood  divided  this  force 
between  the  water  works,  power  house  and  the  two 
plants  of  the  Dayton  Light  and  Power  Company.  Up 
to  this  time  the  Dayton  authorities  had  done  nothing  in 
the  way  of  reconstruction.  The  city  was  entirely  with- 
out water  for  cleaning  purposes  in  the  district  that  had 
been  flooded.     There  was  no  light  at  night. 

Dayton  at  this  time  was  covered  with  a  deposit  of 
mud  varying  in  thickness  from  6  to  15  inches;  and 
the  engines,  pumps  and  dynamos  in  the  power  houses 
scarcely  resembled  machinery  at  all.     The  men  turned 

66 


in  with  shovels  and  wheelbarrows  and  got  the  mud  and 
debris  out  of  the  way.  Then  they  took  the  machinery 
apart,  cleaned  it  and  put  it  together  again.  So  rapid  was 
their  progress  that  at  10  o'clock  Sunday  morning  the 
first  pumps  were  started  in  the  water  works,  and  by 
noon  of  the  same  day  the  capacity  of  the  water  works 
had  been  reached  and  there  was  an  ample  supply  of 
water  available  for  all  purposes. 

The  men  had  objected  to  the  enforced  layoff  at  6 
o'clock  the  night  before.  They  said  that  in  their  rail- 
road work  they  were  accustomed  to  stick  at  a  job  as 
long  as  the  men  could  stand  it  and  then  be  relieved  if 
the  desired  object  had  not  been  obtained  in  the  mean- 
time. The  superintendents  of  these  plants,  after  con- 
ferring with  the  military  authorities,  decided  not  to  risk 
a  night  shift,  and  requested  the  men  to  return  to  their 
own  quarters  prior  to  the  curfew,  in  order  that  there 
might  be  no  question  in  case  any  one  was  hurt.  The 
other  squads  had  finished  their  work  in  the  electric  light 
plants  by  Sunday  at  curfew  time. 

When  this  force  went  to  Dayton  it  was  expected 
that  it  would  have  to  do  rescue  work,  remove  dead 
bodies,  fight  fire,  and,  if  necessary,  dynamite  buildings 
to  check  the  progress  of  the  flames.  But  rumor  was 
ahead  of  conditions,  and  the  fires  had  been  already  ex- 
tinguished.    The   sanitary  conditions,  though,   were  ex- 


Marietta  (Ohio)  Passenger  Station.    Water  had 
Receded  One  Foot 

67 


::S''*-',  i^^-^      ^.^ 


Zanesville  Division,  Pennsylvania  Freight  Yard 


tremely  bad.  As  soon  as  the  water  subsided  the  business 
men  began  to  clean  out  ruined  stock.  The  contents  of 
grocery  stores,  meat  markets  and  commission  houses 
was  dumped  on  the  sidewalks  and  into  the  gutters.  As 
soon  as  the  water  pressure  was  available  they  removed 
the  mud  and  silt  from  the  buildings,  and  this,  too,  was 
necessarily  thrown  into  the  streets.  There  was  as  yet 
no  organization  to  remove  this  mass,  and  by  Monday, 
March  31st,  the  air  of  the  city  was  foul.  Water  and 
light  were  then  the  two  public  utilities  that  had  to  be 
working,  if  the  city  was  to  be  cleaned.  And  they  were 
now  ready  at  hand. 

There  could  be  given  a  fairly  long  list  of  Federal 
and  State  government  supply  trains,  troop  trains  and 
supply  trains  for  the  Red  Cross  Society  and  other  relief 
committees  handled  between  March  26th  and  April  5th, 
including  a  special  train  for  Governor  Cox  and  his  party, 
on  April  2d.  Every  nerve  was  strained  and  every  chance 
taken  to  drive  the  relief  trains  through.  What  was  done 
was  done  cheerfully  and  gladly. 

68 


The  largest  single  movement  was  a  train  of  thirty- 
seven  commissary  and  supply  cars,  on  March  31st,  from 
Jersey  City,  consigned  to  Captain  Nesbitt,  paymaster 
United  States  Navy,  at  Dayton,  Ohio.  On  request  of 
the  Navy  Department,  these  cars  v^ere  reconsigned  and 
made  up  into  four  trains,  three  of  which  were  forwarded 
to  Louisville  and  the  other  to  Marietta.  The  last  of 
these  trains  reached  Louisville  on  the  morning  of 
April  3d. 


The  Floods  Subside 

The  flood  left  Ohio  almost  as  quickly  as  it  came. 

The  trouble  was  that  there  were  so  many  small 
breaks  between  the  supply  points  and  the  big  breaks  that 
it  was  very  difficult  to  get  material  when  it  was  wanted. 
The  general  public — that  part  of  it,  at  least,  that  does 
not  live  in  the  flooded  districts — could  not  possibly  im- 
agine how  bad  the  conditions  really  were,  and  what 
problems  the  railroads  really  confronted. 

No  cities  in  the  United  States  have  ever  suffered  in 
a  single  catastrophe  as  Dayton  and  Zanesville  and  Co- 
lumbus suffered — to  name  only  three  of  the  hundreds  of 
cities,  towns,  villages  and  hamlets,  in  the  aggregate,  that 
were  partially  or  wholly  under  water  for  days.  Business 
sections,  the  residences  of  the  rich  as  well  as  the  homes 
of  the  poor,  were  equal  before  the  flood.  In  different 
cities  different  quarters  were  invaded  and  overwhelmed; 
bui  in  the  sum  total  immunity  was  vouchsafed  to  no 
particular  class  or  interest. 

To  have  stood  in  Dayton  a  week  after  the  waters 
had  subsided,  either  at  the  center  of  her  business  section 
or  in  her  so-called  "sealskin"  district,  the  imagination 
could  not  conceive  a  reality  of  turbulent,  swirling  water, 
generally  10  and  12  feet  deep,  rushing  through  her  wide 
thoroughfares  and  islanding  her  city  blocks.  Yet  at  this 
later  time,  when  the  Miami  River  had  retreated  within 


its  banks — and  was  not  even  half  filling  them — the  city 
was  a  picture  of  woe  and  desolation.  It  was  stamped 
on  the  face  of  every  man  and  woman  one  met. 

In  the  streets,  on  either  side,  were  long  ramparts 
of  mud  and  filth  and  broken  articles  of  all  sorts  and 
description,  with  a  lane  between  these  ramparts  for  the 
passage  of  vehicles.  Streams  of  water  were  pouring  into 
the  gutters  from  the  nozzles  of  lines  of  hose  extending 
into  the  cellars  and  basements.  The  thump,  thump, 
thump  of  the  motor-driven  pumps  was  the  predominant 
sound.  It  was  steady  and  monotonous  and  far- 
extending. 

On  the  lawns  in  front  of  the  houses,  on  the  fences 
or  in  the  windows  of  the  houses  were  mattresses,  car- 
pets, curtains,  books  and  every  variety  of  household  fur- 
niture and  furnishings  in  process  of  drying — a  bedrag- 
gled collection,  at  best — for  there  was  substantially  no 
artificial  heat,  nor  had  there  been  for  ten  days.  Fur- 
naces and  stoves  went  out  of  commission  with  the  com- 
ing of  the  water.  One  looked  right  into  the  houses,  for 
there  was  rarely  a  bit  of  glass  in  the  window  frames. 
Pianos  were,  seemingly,  a  very  general  possession.  They 
were  warped  and  twisted,  and  their  mud-stained  keys 
were  out  of  line.  None  of  them  looked  as  though  any 
music  could  ever  again  be  extracted  from  them. 

Khaki-clad  soldiers,  rifles  on  shoulder,  patroled  the 
streets — several  to  each  block.  They  gave  the  only  color 
to  the  scene. 

Dayton  and  her  sisters  will  be  live  and  happy  cities 
again,  but  then  that  time  seemed  a  long  way  off. 

*      *      *      * 

Can  a  story  be  interesting  without  the  use  of  proper 
names?  There  are  songs  without  words  and  there  can 
be  stories  without  words.  Why  not  without  proper 
names?  If  you  can  see  what  is  done  and  why  it  is  done, 
why  bother  as  to  who,  individually,  did  it?     A  machine 

70 


cannot  talk,  but  it  does  its  task,  and  if  you  see  the  result 
in  its  finished  state,  it  is  not  of  so  much  importance 
just  what  particular  parts  performed  the  various  steps. 
In  an  organization  or  system  living,  thinking  men  form 
the  machine.  The  only  difference  is  that  they  are  ani- 
mate beings  and  not  inanimate  parts. 

This  machine,  too,  is  a  delicate  organism.  It  has 
been  built  up  by  years  of  study  and  effort.  It  is  a 
machine  which  serves  the  public  in  all  weathers  and 
under  all  conditions.  It  carries  hundreds  of  millions  of 
tons  of  freight  and  tens  of  millions  of  passengers  year  in 
and  year  out.  "Co-operation"  is  the  lubricant  which 
makes  the  machine  move  smoothly. 

It  was  co-operation  between  all  the  parts  of  this 
great  machine  of  men  which  enabled  order  to  come  so 
quickly  out  of  this  chaos  of  flood  and  destruction.  There 
was  co-operation  not  only  between  the  men  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania System  themselves,  but  co-operation  between 
them  and  other  railroads,  co-operation  and  mutual  con- 
fidence between  them  and  public  officials. 

This  co-operation  made  things  happen,  things  vastly 
for  the  public  good.  Does  not  this  tremendous  experi- 
ence show  what  can  be  accomplished  in  the  public  serv- 
ice at  all  times  by  co-operation,  by  mutual  confidence 
between  railroad  and  government  ofiicials,  and  by  a 
consistent  plan  to  disregard  the  petty  and  the  non-essen- 
tial, and  work  unitedly  to  achieve  big  results? 


Noah's  Ark— 1913  Model 
71 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  2^,JS 

THIS   BOOK   °'^J"^°"^UTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
^Il^ir^    *"l    ON    THE    SEVENTH    O.V 

OVERDUE. 


LD  21-100m-8,'34 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below  or 

R.n.      .^.°  ^^^^^e  to  which  renewed  ' 

Renewed  books  are  subjea  to  immediate  recall 


— F^EG^e— 


^im^-m^Tim 


'LOAN~DBPr. 


LD  2lA-60m-4,'64 
(E45558l0)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  I^IBRARY 


